“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”—John 14:9.
The disciples had been with Jesus for three years. They had seen miracles—dead men came back to life, the sick were healed, and water was turned to wine. These were but a few of the hundreds of miracles they saw Jesus perform. However, even after these experiences, they lacked one important thing – intimacy with Jesus. They didn’t really know Jesus.
This must have been a great disappointment to Jesus. He had invested so much into developing a close and intimate relationship with the twelve. Consider that they spent three years with their Master. They learned about Him during those years. However, they had knowledge without intimacy. They experienced God’s power individually and He even performed miracles through their own lives. Sometimes it is easier to do the work of God without the intimacy with God.
A friend once commented about the current condition of much of the mainline churches today: “You would think the trinity was the Father, Son and Holy Scriptures versus the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There’s never been a better description of the Church today.”
But, alas, this is a challenge to my own walk with God. It is easy for me to fall into this trap of working so hard for Jesus that I forget to work with Jesus. Jesus desires intimacy more than works. He tells us “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”—John 15:5.
Whatever works we do must be fruit of our intimacy with Him.
Lord, help us not to just know about you. We desire to know You.
Listen up Beloved: 