December 12, Love of the Father
“If you really knew me you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.” John 14:7
Jesus provided focus for His disciples. For many of them, God was distant and seemingly untouchable on the pages of Jewish History. For others, His presence was always seen as sacred and the chief desire of God’s children, yet so Holy that scarcely could anyone enter therein. But Jesus came to provide focus.
Have you ever attempted to identify something through blurred vision? Perhaps those prescription glasses are outdated. Or, perhaps allergies cause the tear ducks to overreact and sight becomes temporarily distorted. Or, like me on my morning drives into the office, those Virginia Beach sunrises can hinder sight. Nonetheless, on an occasion, when sight is blurred what do we do? We pause. Regardless of the remedy we need (a new pair of glasses, wiping tears from our eyes, or pulling down the sun visor), the first step is to always pause.
On one occasion in their life with the Savior, the disciples paused a bit because they simply could not understand Jesus. Philipp - one of the disciples, asked, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus stepped into their blurred vision of God and gave divine clarity.
You have likely experienced the love of someone in your life that loved you as their child. Magnify that love a billion times and you will yet fathom God’s fathering love for you as His child. And, this was made possible by only one way: Jesus came to earth to show us the Father.
Today, not only can you have a non-blurred vision of God, but you can also actually know God in the context of a personal and endearing relationship. I absolutely love how we are joined to Jesus Christ in this way. Through Jesus, we have received the right to be sons and daughters of God; we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. This simply means that because Jesus came to show us God, we can have a relationship with God. This relationship is not distanced nor shrouded in religious pomp and circumstance; this relationship is based on God as Father doing all that was necessary to make us His sons and daughters.
This is the Father! This is love. This is Christmas.
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Today, read the entirety of John 14 to be reminded of how Christmas points to Jesus as the only way to truly know the love of the Father.