Do you recognise?
Apr 18
John 1
1In the beginning was the Word… 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.10He was in the world, … the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
26″I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.
One of the tragedies in the first book of John is highlighted in the verses above. Jesus was the light came and he shone in the darkness are at the darkness did not understand it, he came into the world that he had created but the world did not recognise him. He came to his own but they did not receive him and he stood and walked and lived among them and they did not know him.
The tragedy and this is highlighted in the above passages is that it is so easy for us to just miss Jesus. Jesus did not come under a shroud of secrecy and he did not come hidden. It says that he came as a light shining in the darkness and what could be more evident and clear than that? Furthermore he came to his own people so he did not come as a stranger or as a foreigner. And we also read that he lived and walked and did miracles amongst the people and yet they did not know him.
So the question I have to ask myself today is how can I miss Jesus in my everyday walk? The answer is … very easily. If people do not recognise a light shining in the darkness it may not be as evident for it easy to recognise as we may at first think. I believe that there are many times in my daily walk and in my life with Christ when he shines his light into the darkness all when he speaks when he moves and acts and brings something across my path and yet I am unable to recognise that it is him doing it. The remedy is clearly that we need to be far more alert to the things of God and one of the ways that we can do this is to sensitise ourselves to the things of God.
This is done by regular communication with God which is prayer. The more that we get to understand by reading the word, the more likely we are to recognise his work in our lives.
Jesus did not come to be misunderstood, but he came to bring light into bring the truth and he is of grace and truth. We know from Romans that Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life.