Get to Know Jesus, Get to Know God
“If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ~Jesus
See John 8:19
Why is it so important to get to know Jesus? Because Jesus personifies the Creator of the universe! Jesus wasn’t some man strolling around being nice to people and granting wishes–no, He was, and still is, God in the flesh!
It’s important to get to know Jesus and have an intimate spiritual relationship with Him because if God were to become a man, Jesus of Nazareth would be that man. When you see the face of Jesus, you see the face of God in actual person form. The Father is Spirit–not flesh. He’s never been flesh. So when Jesus was born, He looked exactly like what the Father would look like as a man. This is why Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (see John 14:9).
The Father and Son are not playing good-cop bad-cop. Jesus came to earth to show you what God is like as a person–in human structure–His temperament, love, forgiveness, and personality. The One who is responsible for setting up stars, billions of light-years away, became a man and lived on one of His very own planets for 33 years. For this reason, getting to know Jesus is extremely important because He reveals to us the character of God! That, and the fact He’s our Judge and Savior, both at the same time.
I read a story one time which really hit this point home for me–just how close God came to us through Jesus Christ. Here it is:
There was once a farmer who was a religious skeptic. He was sold on “the fact” that there was not a God, let alone a God who came to earth in human form to express His love to us.
One cold and nasty winter night, the man heard an irregular thumping at the kitchen door. He watched through the window as several tiny, shivering sparrows–obviously attracted by the warmth inside–were beating against the pane-glass window to no avail.
Touched, the farmer got bundled up and headed out to the barn, trudging through deep, fresh snow. He opened the doors and expected the sparrows to go flying in out of the winter storm, but they refused. He even turned on the lights and tossed some hay into a corner, looked back up into the trees, waiting, but still the birds would not go into the barn.
He hollered at them, “Come on! It’s nice in there! Go!” But they just scattered in all directions and hid. The farmer kept trying to help these struggling birds because he knew they would surely die out in this storm, so he tried even more tactics to get them to go into safety.
He laid down a trail of cracker crumbs that led into the barn…nothing. He tried circling behind the birds to drive them toward the barn, still yet, they would not go through the doorway. Nothing worked. He, a huge alien creature, had terrified them. The birds simply could not comprehend in their little bird minds that he actually had a deep desire to help them–not harm them.
So the farmer withdrew back into his house, observing the doomed sparrows from his kitchen window. As he stared out into the dreadful weather, watching these little birds, a thought hit him: “If only I could become a bird for just a moment, one of them, then I wouldn’t frighten them. I could personally show them the way into the warmth and safety I’ve prepared for them.”
At that exact moment, another thought hit him. He had finally grasped why Jesus was born.
A prayer for you: God, thank you for becoming a man. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for showing me how to live and love. Thank you for giving me hope and confidence. Thank you for showing me how valuable I am to you, at the Cross! Thank you for making your home in me for good, and for giving me a new heart! I am forever grateful! Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. For those who want to know you deeper, teach them more about your grace. I know you are constantly guiding us, loving us, and protecting us, but today I’m asking that you help us know you on the deepest level possible! Give us wisdom as you take us even further into our amazing relationship! Live through us! Use our hands, feet, mouths, and minds for great and mighty things–eternal things! Help us to change the world for the better during our short trip here, and empower us to alter the landscape of heaven by simply being ourselves. Who are we? Your children! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
This devotional is from 60 Days for Jesus, Volume 2. Get your copy here!