No Show Jesus

Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "why do you seek the living among the dead?"  "He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was in Galilee, "saying, 'the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' "  And they remembered his words.
Luke 24: 5 - 8 NKJV

I mentioned in my last post of how difficult I've found it to come to know a Jesus whom I could never actually see.  In fact, I'm sure that I'm not alone in feeling this way.  I mentioned the struggles I've had before, trying to see Jesus in me when I could never see Him with my own eyes.  I mentioned the doubts of His disciple Thomas, who openly challenged the risen Lord unless he himself could see Him with his own eyes.  How is it that I could ask someone to have a relationship with One they cannot see?  I'm not saying that others have never heard of Jesus, I'm sure that all of creation knows the name of Christ.  Remember, even the demons know Him {James 2:19}.  Do you know Him?  If you were to have asked me that question more than a few years ago I would surely have said no.  What changed?  Well, what changed is how is how I saw Jesus Himself.  I began to see Him as a person instead of a teaching spoken of only in Sunday sermons.  Remember that we're not alone when it comes to seeing the man Jesus.  We're told that no one has seen Him {John 1"18}.  Unless you count the Father, nobody has seen Jesus as He is.  That is, as He truly is.  So, how is it that the world will ever know Him?  Well, if you He lives in you then they will see Him through you.  Wait, Jesus lives through me?  Yes, the apostle Paul assured us of His indwelling Spirit in Galatians {Galatians 2:20}.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2: 5 NKJV

I never doubted that Jesus was a human man...in His day.  Yet, doctrinal teaching tells us that Jesus bled and died on a Roman cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  Upon His death, He promptly rose from the dead and ascended into heaven (Not in the sky, but more on that later) where He was seated next to the Father.  I get it.  So, in my view this was the reality of Christ.  This is exactly why I struggled on having a relationship with Him.  This Man, this Savior, this risen Lord was not that close to me at all.  Believe me, if you hold to this teaching, your own view of Jesus may only see Him as a overseer and not as the loving Lord He truly is.  Isn't that how many see God, as one who looks over our lives from afar?  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.  We're told that the Father and Jesus are one in the same {John 14:9}.  So, if Jesus indeed lives in us as Paul says, we can bet that God is in us as well.  Believe me, I've heard from many Christian heresy police for speaking this belief.  If that's true, then I'm sure we can count Paul among the heretics as well?  Do we cherry pick only those scriptures that agree with traditional teachings?  Is this how God intended His word to be used?  I'd say no, on both counts.  So, is Jesus really a no show in our lives?  Can we love a God whom we cannot see?  As Ben Kenobi once said to a young Luke, "search your feelings you know this to be true,"  Indeed, I believe that each of us has the knowledge within us of who it is we really are inside.  After all, we are all created by God in His image {Genesis 1:27}.  Indeed, all that He is...we are.  I can say that with confidence.  What is stopping you from a relationship with the Man Jesus?  This is the relationship with His children that God intended.  That relationship He had with us in the garden.  You need not be "more like" Jesus, you already are His likeness.  All that He is, we are as well.

Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
John 20: 29 NKJV

~Scott~