Have you ever had one of those moments when, in the midst of thinking insignificant thoughts about some very ordinary process, God decides to break in, and you turn your mind in a direction you never intended and He introduces a whole new perspective? The Holy Spirit conducted one of those unexpected interventions with me earlier this week and the implications were compelling. It didn’t appear to be one of those divine insights that alter everything, but it did illustrate how a simple change in perspective can make our ordinary relationships deeper and richer than they might ever be otherwise. 

A Very Ordinary Beginning ~
The incident goes back to last Sunday when my wife  and I were manning our post as greeters at our church, which is one of the most energizing and uplifting things we get to do together. We love it! 

As we engaged in our favorite Sunday morning pastime, a couple came by who were reasonably new to our church and had expressed an interest in knowing more about our community group. Unfortunately, the lobby of our large and very active church is, to say the least, not the most conducive setting to discuss important issues. The buzz of other conversations, background music, and people rushing to find a seat before the auditorium filled up made it clear that we needed to find a less distracting environment to continue our conversation. We quickly agreed that sharing some quality table fellowship around a good meal sounded like a great idea, so we made a plan to do that. 

Later, as I pondered our upcoming dinner engagement, I made a spontaneous, offhanded comment about looking forward to getting to know the couple better. It was the kind of insignificant comment that I’ve probably uttered in one form or another thousands of times. But this time it seemed as though the Spirit of God had a couple of things to say along those lines as well. It turns out that He doesn’t see our get-togethers as such a mundane, insignificant process at all. He sees our efforts to get to know each other as potentially life-changing opportunities. He even underscored His perspective with a couple of New Testament examples, beginning with a profound declaration that Jesus included in a special prayer He offered during His last day here on earth.

A Statement With Sobering Clarity ~
In that prayer, Jesus addressed God the Father in the dual context of both His Son and our High Priest, and among the theological and doctrinal treasures He unveiled in it is this priceless gem . . . He made it clear that eternal life is not achieved by doing something, saying something, wearing something, joining something, quitting something, starting something, or going somewhere. With absolute authority and with immutable clarity, the Son of God declared that eternal life is the result of knowing Someone. Jesus said:

…And this is eternal life, that they [Jesus’ followers] may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3) NKJV

“Knowing” Jesus is not a matter of checking out His Biblical resumé and reviewing an imagined social media profile. Knowing Him demands going past all the transient, superficial, frothy realm we love to spend our lives in. The great American pastime seems to be developing digital identities and exchanges with people we don’t really know and who will never really know us. When Jesus introduces Himself to us, He doesn’t just bring theological information about Himself. He comes prepared to expose all of who He really is and what He has to offer. Knowing Him demands that we meet Him at the same level of personal depth, honesty, openness, and uninhibited exposure. That’s the level where we connect with the life that emanates from Almighty God Himself and where we begin to get to know Him. 

As Thomas struggled with a moment of anxious uncertainty about the things Jesus was saying prior to His crucifixion, Jesus reassured him with this profound reality about what knowing Him means: 

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. (John 14:7) NKJV

An Awesome Challenge ~
Obviously, Thomas wasn’t the only one who had  moments where they struggled in their quest to really know this Rabbi who had called them to leave everything and follow Him.  He seemed on the surface to be much like them. He got just as tired after a long day, got hungry when lunchtime was postponed, got frustrated occasionally, and laughed at funny things. But then He could also make lame legs dance, make leprous limbs as clear and clean as the skin of a child. He could open blind eyes to the world they’d never seen and flood them with a kaleidoscope of color in a world they could never have imagined. They watched this Rabbi allow deaf ears to finally hear music and allow mute lips to sing along. Their Rabbi could banish demons, calm stormy seas, feed thousands with a few loaves and a couple of fish, and even raise the dead. So, how could they ever really get to know Him? And if they were with Him physically every day and struggled with the challenge of knowing Him, where does that leave us? 

Though Jesus will come back physically at some point, He isn’t available for us to observe in the body He inhabited before or after His resurrection. But that doesn’t mean He isn’t here. During His earthly ministry, He only had one body through which to teach, preach, and demonstrate the foundational values of His Kingdom. At that time, He could only reach out to those poor, broken, sick, and hopeless who were able to find their way to Him, and to those He encountered in His travels in the limited region of His ministry. But He has millions of bodies to work through now, including yours and mine. So today, one of the primary ways Jesus responds to those who need and want to know Him is by sending us to them. That’s a sobering responsibility, so how, exactly, are we who are engaged in our own quest to know Him better supposed to react to a mission like that? 

The answer to that question begins with reminding ourselves of the promise Jesus made to His disciples before He left. He assured them more than once that He would not leave them as orphans, but that He would be with them forever. 

In reference to the arrival of His Spiritual presence, He said: 

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14;18) NKJV

And as part of His authoritative commissioning of them, He reiterated the promise of His presence:

…All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. (Matthew 28:18–20) NKJV

Turning a Practice Around ~
In simple terms, here’s the message God wanted me to hear and pass along. Remember the “social distancing” that was mandated during COVID days? Well, God wants us to engage in the opposite kind of practice spiritually. He wants us to see our engagements with friends and acquaintances as opportunities not only to get to know each other better, but as opportunities to know Jesus Himself better.  

Our interactions are opportunities to introduce them to Jesus as He lives, works, teaches, and demonstrates His Kingdom’s values in us. And if our acquaintances are among His followers as well, our engagements with them are also opportunities for us to get to see how Jesus does those kinds of things in their lives. All of us can read the Biblical transcripts of Jesus’ life and work, but getting to know Him better requires practicing some spiritual proximity, both with His Spirit in us, and in those we meet along the way. 

After all, the life-changing Gospel Jesus brought didn’t get from Jerusalem to our neighborhood because angels wrote it in the skies for all to see. It got here because Jesus introduced Himself to people like you and me, and they in turn introduced the Jesus who had come to live in them to someone else. The more we begin to see our engagements with others as opportunities to really know Jesus better, the more the culture at large might begin, once again, to know the power of His presence.

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • “Jesus comes prepared to expose all of who He really is & what He has to offer. Knowing Him demands we meet Him at the same level of personal depth, honesty, openness and uninhibited exposure. That’s where we begin to get to know Him.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

  • “God wants us to engage spiritually in social proximity. He wants us to see our engagements with friends and acquaintances as opportunities not only to get to know each other better, but as opportunities to know Jesus Himself better.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) ​

  • “All of us can read the Biblical transcripts of Jesus’ life and work, but getting to know Him better requires practicing some spiritual proximity, both with His Spirit in us, and in those we meet along the way.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) https://ctt.ec/9ac5n
• • “The life-changing Gospel Jesus brought didn’t get from Jerusalem to us because angels wrote it in the skies. It was because Jesus introduced Himself to people like you and me and they in turn introduced the Jesus who came to live in them to someone else.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

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