How To See What Cannot Be Seen

May 24

Read: 1 John 4:7-21

How To See What Cannot Be Seen

“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (v.12)

It is very difficult to know God all by yourself… to experience His love and character alone and on your own is almost impossible. This is one of the problems we have created in the way that we approach the Christian journey these days: as something that is primarily an individual matter. The true pursuit of Christ is very rarely a purely individual matter. It will always - sooner or later - be fleshed out in community with others. Even the most intensely PERSONAL experiences don’t truly come to life until they are shared with others. Think of Saul on the road to Damascus and his vision of Christ. It was intensely personal and yet it was observed by his traveling partners, he was carried by them to another believers house, and he had to rely on someone else to be used by God to regain his sight so that the full effect of the experience could take place. Pursuit of Christ is ALWAYS a group effort. We don’t get to think that it is only about us alone.

“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us… “ The only way you will really “see” God is when you observe and experience Christ-driven love shared among believers. This is where God lives… in our “midst”. God is not like some Hindu Yogi alone on the top of a mountain. If you want to “visit God” where he “abides” in this world… you will be traveling smack dab into the midst of the Church… the people of God. When we remain closed and shut off from each other, we miss out on the experience of God himself and his love.

In what way is God’s love in need of being “perfected”? What an odd phrase! God’s love is “perfected” in us. (v.12) One thing this shows us is that God’s love was designed to be poured out and put to work in a community of people… between a group of people. This is why God’s nature is triune - God in three person’s, Father, Son, and Spirit. God’s love is fully at work in the midst of a group of people… HIS PEOPLE. If you really want to SEE God, you never will until you are practicing his love with others and RECEIVING his love from others. This means risking being known. This means that the Christian journey needs to leave the realm of “just me and God” and move into “God and us”.

This is risky. To enter into relationships is hard work. It is disappointing at times. It takes energy. It is also life giving and the only way you will get to see and experience the “love of God perfected”. It is how you will see the God who cannot be seen by human eyes. When your Christian journey moves beyond what “God did for me” to “what God is continuing to do through us” you are living where God lives… where God “abides”. There is no way around it. It is worth fighting for. It is our deepest longing… to be known and to be loved. You ARE loved. You are the “BELOVED”… the “loved ones”. Love you guys. - JDP