Jun 19, 2006

Seeing Jesus as All We Need

How do I do this? I try to put my hope in a lot of different things: Work, People, Sports, blogs. It always comes up empty. I am reading a book called "We Would See Jesus" by Roy and Revel Hession. It really seems like God has led me to this book after so many things I have read this year point to Jesus as fulfilling all that I need. Now maybe that sounds odd, but I think it is easy to live what seems like the Christian life, without really trusting Jesus very much at all. There are versus such as John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." that I heard so many times but I didn't really get it, at least not fully. I have been learning more this year about Jesus than I had really known before. You can read the Bible and not see that Jesus is all through out it from the beginning. I had known the verses in Colossians that talk about how everything is tied together in Jesus, buit it was all head knowledge that I didn't fully understand:
Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

During this past year or so I have read a lot from the Internet Monk about Jesus and his words really resonated with me in explaining Jesus in a more real way. Tw0 essays that really were meaningful and enlightening to me were "Is Jesus Truly the Point" and another called "A Conversation in God's Kitchen." I have also read Blue Like Jazz and am still reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller that have built on this theme of Jesus, particulary in moving away from formulas and more toward relationship with Jesus.

But getting back to We Would See Jesus, is the idea that Jesus can fulfill all of our needs, He is our salvation, Jesus is our I Am, he will be whatever we need. Now I don't mean wants turned into needs, such as needing the latest new car, technology gadget, etc. I mean deeper needs such as acceptance, love, friendship, forgiveness, and grace.

Maybe I have had my head in the sand or something, but I want to know Jesus more and want to look to him for all my needs. It is so easy to to get caught up in the noise of daily life and let the urgency of so many things crowd out Jesus. I pray I will See Jesus.