Thursday: Day 14

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” John 14:8-10a

            It might seem strange to say, but one of the struggles I’ve faced as a pastor is convincing people that God is God. And that Jesus is “in” God. And that no matter how much we try, there’s just no getting around the fact that God is God.

            And that means that we’re not. God is God. And we are not God.           

           C.S. Lewis wrote, “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all.”

          You know, I love Burger King. I love to “have it my way” when I order a hamburger. I order it with extra Catsup and onions, depending on whether I’m going to see people that afternoon. I love those hamburger options!

          But we are not Burger King Christians. You can’t have Jesus the way that you want him. Yes, I’ll take the Jesus Burger, but hold off on the challenging stuff in the Sermon on the Mount, or that thing about taking up my cross. I’d like Jesus my way.

          Like it or not, you can’t have Jesus your own way. God is God. Jesus is “in” God. And no matter much we would like it to be different, there’s no getting away from that. God is sovereign and is immeasurably superior to us in every way. Again, C.S. Lewis has written that we will never settle any significant issue until we settle the fact that God is sovereign, and that we allow God to be Lord of our lives.

           So what does that mean for us on our journey through Lent? 

          It means that we acknowledge the sovereignty of God and seek to make it real in our lives with Jesus as Savior and Lord. It like the woman with the flow of blood (Day 2) strained and reached out to touch his robe, and she was healed because she knew that Jesus, as Lord, could heal her. It’s like the lepers who needed healing (Day 8), and fell on their faces because they knew that Jesus was their Lord who could heal them. When Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am,” Peter said Jesus was the Messiah, because Peter knew that even through all the mistakes Peter had made, Jesus as Lord would be sovereign in his life.

          A journey isn’t always easy. That’s why Jesus asked his disciples if they wanted to go away (Day 4). Some left. But the ones who stayed with him learned the true meaning and purpose of life.

          No, a journey isn’t always easy. But in the end it’s worth every step of the way.

Questions to Ponder

• What do you think about being a Burger King Christian? Does it bother you that you can’t have it your own way?
• What are two things that you just don’t want to “give up” this Lent, or in your life of following Jesus? What do you want to keep doing, even though you sometimes wonder if you should keep doing it?

Prayer for Today: Turn our hearts to you, eternal Father, and grant that, seeking always the one thing necessary and carrying out works of charity, we may be dedicated to your worship. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.