We are but a speck of dust in the soil of God’s human creation. Yet we are considered so important, we are each individually created in God’s image (I have carved you on the palm of my hand).
At the birth of the smallest ant, the growth in each blade of grass, the development of everything that lives and even to the solar system which is still being discovered, our God injects life and love. (After creation God saw that it wqs good, very good and the Spirit breathed life into the Father’s creation)
Trying to understand God is beyond our human comprehension, beyond imagination, for our God exists in another dimension beyond humanity and yet is part of humanity (“I will be with you for all time”). It is as if our God is a sea of love that constantly feeds the creation He classified as ‘Very Good’. Monty Python attempted to define the Almighty by the phrase “Oh God you are so big.” Others have tried a more definitive approach, but all with only broad vague attempts.
While we can see our God at work in nature, in our world around us, in ourselves and in others, it seems no one has physically seen God, or The Father, as Jesus referred to him in male human terms. (“You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.” Exodus 33:20)
With all these seemingly impossible attempts at a human understanding of something invisible and beyond our comprehension, I wonder why then should we bother wasting our time trying to understand something of this magnitude?
The Disciples with Jesus questioned the concept as well, “show us The Father,” they asked? And that’s when the penny dropped. The response from Jesus “If you know me, you know The Father”. “The Father and I are one.” “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Later on in John’s Gospel we read how Jesus prayed. “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.”
So, that’s the LINK. If we want to know and love our God, we need to learn and understand as much about Jesus as we can, for He came to show us the way to The Father. I cling onto what Jesus said to the doubting Thomas after he made Thomas touch his wounds so he would doubt no more. “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
Even though the New Testament Gospels were written many years after the death of Jesus and were designed to be understood by differing groups of people, this is what we have. While some scholars might argue about the accuracy of various interpretations of Scripture, there is enough material available for each of us to get a deep understanding of who, in our own mind, Jesus was, what the message was He was attempting to impart and how we can absorb this within our own understanding.
I question why we should be so pedantic and waste our time arguing about words and possible alternate meanings to what Jesus had to say. Let’s spend our time creating a closer personal relationship with Jesus the Christ who is available to each one of us 24/7.
It is not just a matter of talking or praying to the Jesus in our lives. We need to listen as well, for I believe Jesus responds to us in our thoughts, in our dreams and through other people in our lives. So often when ‘so-called’ coincidences happen for us, a word of thanks to our friend is a good idea.
If we can but trust the Jesus of our relationship, we will be guided in our actions and deliberations. We don’t have to be all alone in this world, totally reliant on ourselves to survive each day. If we can just give the ego a rest for a bit and trust the Divine Presence in our lives to guide us, we can say goodbye to serious worry and anxiety and become a much happier person as a result.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s faith.