“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” John 8: 31-32
I think it’s wonderful when you read something for the what seems like the 1000th time and then the Holy Spirit just shows you something completely new! With God I’ve found there are continuing levels of understanding and knowing Him, as He shows you more and more of the overall picture. In some ways, it’s a little like correcting your vision.
I started to need glasses when I was in primary school. After months of squinting at the teacher’s squiggles on the blackboard (old school chalk and blackboard back in my day!) it was time to finally get those dreaded glasses and join the ranks of what I thought of as ‘geeks’! Well thankfully I soon changed my perceptions of those of us with glasses, but I still daily have the experience of only vaguely knowing where things are until I don my specs. Then everything come into sharp focus and I can clearly see what I’m looking at!
I get the same sense with God when He starts to talk to me about parts of the bible that I’m reading. Sometimes I vaguely know what I think the scripture is saying, but then it sharply comes into new focus as He drops in a new thought I’d never considered before. Reading the John 8:31-32 scripture today I thought to myself (as I had done countless times before) ‘yes that’s true, when you know what the written word actually means then it changes your thinking and makes you free in that area’…but then like a new pair of specs I suddenly saw this verse in a clearer way.
What is truth? According to John 14:6 Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life” So I saw for the first time that ‘the truth’ is not just a set of facts or values, but it’s a real living person whom I can get to know.
We can all know things ‘about’ someone – the internet is a super highway of facts/fiction about almost anyone, especially celebrities. But does that mean we actually know that person? Do we spend time with them and listen when they speak? Do we understand what makes them happy or the way they like things to be done? And do we know how much we mean to them?
With this in mind, I’ve determined to know Him more intimately, so that He Himself can make me free. It is in having greater intimacy with Jesus, letting Him speak to my heart, show me His love and complete acceptance that I am made free in every way. This is so much more powerful and personal – a one to one communion with the lover of my soul. I’m going to begin by looking at the scripture in a different way – seeing the person Jesus in all that I read and inviting Him to reveal who He is in more clarity. I pray that you would see Him more clearly in all that you do also.
Years ago, my childhood optometrist Mr Cooper would put different strength lenses into the frames and say “Is it better with this, without or about the same?” Well I’ve found my view of world is definitely better – better when I look at everything with Jesus!