SEEING JESUS

John 14:15-21
15 "If you love Me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him."

I love the writings of C. S. Lewis because of his ability to express biblical truth in vivid and imaginative ways. In the book Prince Caspian, one of his Chronicles of Narnia, a girl named Lucy sees the great lion Aslan, but can't convince her sister and two brothers of it. Instead, they go the opposite direction and are thwarted at every turn
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That night, Lucy sees Aslan again and realizes that he had meant for her to follow him alone, even if the others wouldn't come. Even now Aslan is calling to her, saying, "If you go back to the others now, and wake them up; and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me--what will happen? There is only one way of finding out."

When Lucy asks if the others will see him too, Aslan replies, "Certainly not at first. Later on, it depends."

Even though the others can't see Aslan, they go with Lucy as she leads them along a precipitous path, following the lion only she can see. But as they travel on, one by one the others begin to catch glimpses of Aslan until they see the great lion clearly and know that he is leading them.

For me, the story illustrates what Jesus told His disciples just before He was crucified. "Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. . . . Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him" (John 14:19,21).

In our walk of faith, obedience is the key to seeing Jesus. As we do what He says, the clearer our vision of Him becomes. What will happen when we follow the Lord? There is only one way of finding out. --Dave McCasland

DESTINATION POINTS

* What clear command of Jesus do I need to obey today?
* How can I be sure that Jesus will show Himself to me along the way?

LINKS:
Into the Wardrobe
http://cslewis.drzeus.net/

bottom line: Obedience is the key to seeing Jesus.

soul journey