Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” (John 12:44-50 NLT)I grew up with a picture of Jesus watching what I was doing. For the most part, on his better days, he was mildly annoyed. On his worst days, he was really ticked off.
Of course, God joined him in disapproval of what I was doing and of my life in general.
That is a picture many of us have. Even though we proclaim a God of love, at the same time we tend to see him being angry or sad or whatever at what we do.
We see him judging us.
Jesus himself said that he didn’t come to judge, but to save. He didn’t come to sit in judgment, complaining about everything we did wrong, watching us in mild annoyance. He came to bring us back to God.
He knows we have problems living our lives. After all, it was through his agency that we were made. In fact, God knew from the beginning that we would fail and not be able to do what was right.
Ephesians 1:4-5 says: Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
In advance he decided to adopt us. He knew we would remove ourselves from the family. He knew we would need help coming back in. He knew we would be powerless. So he sent Jesus.
And if we trust in him, we trust God. When we see him, we see God. When we reject him, we reject God.
There is no other way but through Jesus. And I trust him to do what he said he would do: bring me to the Father and love me.
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