Have you been walking with Jesus for a long time? I have.
The Longer I Serve Him...
My parents were faithful believers who took us to church and taught us to love God and our need for Jesus at home. At age 8 I trusted in Christ for salvation. Frankly, I had no idea what an amazing grace I was partaking in and didn't for many years. That's another story for another time.
For 54 years at the time of this writing, I have been walking with Jesus. Sometimes closer than others. And as the Gaither song says, "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows!"
The Danger of Familiarity
At the same time, I have to admit that there have often been times when Christ was familiar and important to me, but I didn't seek intimacy with Him. I didn't strive to really understand Him beyond the beloved Sunday School and VBS lessons that were engrained in me from an early age.
Even the Disciples...
As I read in my "Read Through The Bible" plan, I stopped to contemplate what led to this declaration in Matthew 14:33.
After all, they had been walking with Jesus for months by now. Many of them have recorded declarations that He was the Christ in their earliest encounters with Him. Yet, here they are after being with Him, sometimes night and day, amazed that He is the son of God as if it is new information. In fact, this happens more than once in the gospels.
It's easy to be critical of that diverse group of men chosen to be Jesus' closest followers. They had seen many miracles by now. That had heard Him teach how He fulfilled the law and the prophets. How could that first-hand knowledge lapse?
I'm not sure. But isn't it comforting? Isn't it a loving God who shows us that doubt is normal?
Our day-to-day experience with Jesus is significantly different than theirs without having His physical presence. Yet their lives must have taken on a sense of typical to the point that a specific revelation from Him caused them to sit up and worship Him as the son of God again.
Don't Stop Being Amazed
Let us pray that we will be looking every day for His revelation of Himself as the one true God who made provision for our right relationship with Him.
Let us exclaim every day, not only that Jesus is the Son of God, but the attributes of God that teach us again what an amazing grace we have been given in Christ and in the Holy Spirit who is with us just as Christ was with those first disciples.
Which attributes of God draw you to worship the most?
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