What would you do if you saw Jesus today? I read some true news stories about people who claimed to see images of the Lord:A few years ago a woman in New Mexico was frying tortillas. One of the tortillas burned and the result was an image that looked like a face; she thought it looked like Jesus. She took the tortilla to her priest and he agreed it looked like Jesus, so he blessed it. The woman and her husband took the blessed tortilla back home and placed it in a box surrounded by cotton to make it appear as if it was floating on air. They built an altar around it and started praying there. Word began to spread about the holy tortilla and soon thousands of people visited their home to pray before the holy tortilla. People are desperate to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
Another lady in Arkansas turned on the kitchen light in her mobile home. The reflection of the light on the mobile home beside her looked like a man’s face. She turned the light off and the image disappeared. When she turned the light back on, the image reappeared. She was certain it was a miracle—she could see the face of Jesus! News soon spread and hundreds of people were visiting her trailer to walk into her kitchen and flip on the light. Because of the crowds, she started charging a dollar a person. A local television station interviewed one of the men who had paid his dollar to see the image. He was pretty skeptical. He said, “I want my dollar back, it looked more like Willie Nelson to me.”
Do you want to see Jesus? Don’t go to a tortilla or a trailer—go to the Word of God. Go read the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Gaze upon Him who healed the sick and raised the dead. Hear the voice of Him who taught as no one ever did. Behold the Son of God dying on the cross for our sins. Wonder at the risen Savior. Study the book of Acts and the Epistles and see Jesus at work through His church, turning the world upside down. Turn to Revelation 1 and see what Jesus looks like now in His majesty and authority. John saw Him and wrote “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes were like blazing fire. ... His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” (Rev. 1:14, 16).
Have you seen Jesus lately?
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I love what you write here. So many people are so desperate for a glimpse of Jesus, or intimacy with the LORD but are unwilling to put effort into it or are ready to look to the next new thing to try and build it. For a while it was all about the music, then seeker sensitive, then post modern, but the simple truths remain that through His word we can come to know Him. That His presence is in the praises of his people.
ReplyDeleteSeiji, you are so right that many are looking for Jesus in the latest movement or newest self-help book. But "faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ"(Rom. 10:17 NIV).
ReplyDelete"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13 NIV).
And God entrusts this message of the gospel to us who believe, "He has committed to us the message..." (2 Cor. 5:19).
--Richard