Tag: Gospel

Would You Recognize Jesus?

If you took a seven mile walk with Jesus and listened to Him talk with you, would you know Him? Imagine spending three years roaming the countryside with Jesus and then not recognizing Him! Imagine thinking that Jesus was some gardener? All this and more happened after Jesus died and rose again on the walk with the disciples to Emmaus, multiple times with the apostles, and with Mary at the tomb. What was it about Jesus that they did recognize Him?

There are lots of theories that our “spiritual bodies” are somehow transformed from our “earthly” bodies. They’re not exactly the same. Let’s put that all aside for a minute.

Jesus was raised body and soul from the dead, with the nail holes in his hands, side, and feet intact. So was He a “different” Jesus or were the eyes “closed” of everyone around Him, including His closest followers. Bingo!

God (including Father, Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) is in everyone. That means, you, me, and every other person past, present, and future. God made us, so He is very much in us. Whoever you look at, you are looking straight in the eyes of Jesus. But do you recognize Him? I can tell you that in all my failings that there are a lot of people I know who I do not see Jesus.

That’s the problem with life and our walk through it. We don’t see Jesus. Yet, we should see Jesus in the mirror as well as in every person we walk by on the street—well, use to walk by on the street BC (before coronavirus).

Here’s a challenge for the week. Whoever you see on TV or behind that mask at the supermarket you are seeing Jesus. Look real hard. It’s Jesus in the face of anyone you are looking at. And how would you treat Jesus if you were looking at Him? Something to think about this week.

These are tough times that truly test our faith. Look for Jesus in the faces of others and your faith will get a boost. And we will get through this. With Jesus!

Have an AMAZING week!!! 

Where is God?

It’s times like these when we ask that question. “Where is God?” With death swirling around us worldwide, we at least think the question, it not say it. “Where is God?” I thought of the question this morning when I heard the gospel account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Martha and Mary must have been at least thinking it over and over again—“Where the heck is Jesus?” “He could have saved our brother from dying?” Yet, Jesus finally showed up and raised Lazarus from the dead.

God is where He always is—less than a heartbeat away from each one of us. A natural disaster has hit and God is not off on some vacation in heaven. He’s here. And if we LISTEN for/to Him we will weather this storm.

These are times that not just try souls (shoutout to Thomas Paine) but shake our faith to the core. Does God really care? Why can’t He stop the sickness and dying? How can God sit back and not do something? Anything?

Like the disciples in the boat terrified during the storm, we have to have faith. Faith will get us through this. The same faith that tells us that no matter what happens in this life that it is less than a heartbeat in the eternity we have been promised.

What’s very important during this crisis is how we act. Do we reach out and help others, however we can? Do we PRAY? Do we donate? Or do we simply hunker down and worry about ourselves. How we act during a crisis like this says everything about who we are as a person.

Have faith. Believe! It’s tough going right now but we will come out stronger. If that’s what we want.

I hope you are keeping safe, helping others, and BELIEVE!

Spend some more time with God this week. LISTEN for/to Him!!!

Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

I was going to title this post something about, “Do you see light or darkness?” It’s trying times like these when our true characters show through. And when we face the reality of where God really is in our lives. Are you are glass half full person, or one who sees it as half empty? Are you a person who always sees light, no matter how dark it is out, or do you just see the darkness—or at least the darkness overtaking the light? Good questions to ask as the coronavirus seems to be overtaking the world. Or not.

If God is a constant in your life, I don’t know how you see anything as empty—half or whole—or see anything as darkness. I love, love the beginning of John’s Gospel…

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:5

That light, sent by God the Father, is Jesus, His only Son. He’s the glass that is always full, the light that no darkness can overcome. When your life is built on the foundation of God—Father, Son & Spirit—there simply can be no emptiness or darkness. It’s that simple. And, yes, I’ll say it again—God means life to be simple. We are the ones who complicate it.

When Jesus left this earth, He left behind the Spirit to empower us. The Spirit is that spark that keeps the light in us lit, especially when it starts to dim. It’s trying times like this coronavirus crisis—which will pass, and just be a mention in the history books—when we need to look at the fullness and light of life. And we have help if we just let God be a central part—THE central part—of our lives.

Have an AMAZING week ahead. Think full, think light!

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