Daily Java: John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (John 1:15-18)
It is hard to remember what things were like before you had your life-time watershed moment, before you had your life set on its course.
It is hard to remember what it was like not to be married to my wife. We have been together for more than twice the time we were apart.
It is hard to remember what it was like before I went into the ministry. Having been a pastor for 36 years, I have trouble remembering the time before I became a pastor.
Life has been set for so long, it sometimes seems as if it has always been this way.
John the apostle felt the same way when he wrote this. Since he was writing it some 70 years after the fact, it was hard for him to remember what it was like before. His comment about John: He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. In his mind, Jesus had always been and it was probably hard for the old John to remember when he was new. I would even imagine that the old John had difficulties remembering all of what happened that long ago. After all, it was only 3 years out of his long life. And he was probably pretty young then.
Seminary was a two year period 35 years ago, and the memories, while sometimes quite vivid, are fading as I get older. The same with the memories of our wedding and honeymoon, high school years and childhood in general. That is a normal thing. They are all part of the fabric of my existence, to use a neat phrase. None of them are particularly gone, but they are all kind of melded together in my memory. It is hard to remember a life without them.
Jesus brought grace and truth. And John can see the blessings that he has gotten from them – one blessing after another. He can see all of the great things that have happened. Sure, some bad things happened also, but the grace of God had overwhelmed everything else. The thing is, he had the grace of God and the Lord’s blessings in his life for so long that he could not remember not having them.
He knows he has not seen God, but for sure he has seen his results in everything he is, has done and ever will do in the little time he had left.
That is what I strive for. The total knowledge of God in such a way that it becomes part of my very existence.
I want to know him like Paul knew him. As he said, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day (2 Timothy 1:12).
No comments:
Post a Comment
To comment, post your comment and click the anonymous button. It would be nice if you signed it so I could know who you are.
You are welcome to say anything you want as long as it is nice. If I don't like it, or it is ugly, I will take it off, place it into the garbage disposal, grind it up, and allow it to be flushed into the Gulf of Mexico where it will be eaten by a fish and then excreted where it will lie on the bottom of the ocean until it is covered up by other comments.