| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: The awesome reality of the presence of God” Our Bible verse for today: “He is the image of the invisible God …” Colossians 1:15 (CSB) Our thought for today: “If you want to know God, study Jesus” The Amplified Bible is a specialized translation of the Bible which uses all the English words necessary to capture the full meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek words. That sometimes makes for awkward and wordy sentence structure in English, but it does provide the full range of meaning from the original languages. Colossians 1:15 in the Amplified Bible reads, “He is the exact living image (the essential manifestation) of the unseen God (the visible representation of the invisible) …” In yesterday’s devotional I noted that one of the reasons for the incarnation, one of the reasons God came to us and lived among us, as one of us, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, was because that’s how we could most easily relate to Him. Remember the lesson from Henry Blackaby in the Experiencing God Bible study, “One of the greatest truths in all of Scripture is that God wants to be known by His people.” God wants us to know Him. He wants us to understand what He is like and He wants us to be in a close and comfortable relationship with Him. We are to be in awe of Him, that’s true. And we are to worship Him in all of His majesty, that’s true too. But over and over again in Scripture He expresses His tender love for us, and His concern for us, and His great mercy and compassion towards us. He even teaches us to think of Him as our “Abba”, which is an Aramaic word of endearment used between a child and a father. It essentially means “Papa” or “Daddy”. God wants us to be on those familiar terms with Him. But it’s hard to relate to Him in that way if we think of Him just as a spirit. So, He showed Himself to us in a way that we can easily relate to. He showed Himself to us in the human body of Jesus. In Colossians 1:15 Paul tells us that Jesus is “the exact” representation of the Father. So, if you want to know what the Father is like, watch and listen to Jesus. Hear His words of love. Watch His acts of compassion. See His tears for the lost and hurting. Observe as He patiently and lovingly draws people to Himself. That’s God revealing Himself and His nature to us through the physical person of Jesus of Nazareth. It has often and correctly been said, “If you want to know God, study Jesus, because Jesus is God.” That’s what we get when we study the Gospels, and that’s why the reality of the incarnation is so important. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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