Just as if you were there…

Technology can be amazingly beneficial or devastating to a person’s mind. As I have grown older, there are many things that I can no longer do that I once found simple. But lately, I’ve also been able to go places and do things that my life never would have afforded me, thanks to being able to watch the physical accomplishments of others.

I’ve watched families build a home from the ground up, flanked by the backdrop of majestic mountains, the kind I can only see on a calendar. One young woman with a crazy inner drive has secluded herself away from other people in one of the coldest places on earth. Why? I don’t have any idea. But I can watch her daily activities without having to be there freezing to death or dodging the threat of polar bears wanting me for breakfast.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to the book of Ephesians. Every morning, I’ve read over the first two chapters, not able to read past them. They contain incredible promises given to me as a believer by God the Father. That’s how you have to approach the Bible. You have to see it as a letter that has come in the mail to you. You have to read it with the same enthusiasm and interest that you would if you got a letter from a dearest friend. But how many of us do that?

I read these events written by people who were THERE at the time. They might have been the ones receiving the words directly from God, and I wasn’t there—or was I? I might not have been there physically, but nevertheless, what was spoken to the person at the time was also being spoken for them to convey what was said; to me. All these years later, the letter arrived, and I opened it.

I love the movie A Few Good Men. I have watched it numerous times. I watch it, anticipating the moment when Colonel Nathan R. Jessep gets arrested. He’s an arrogant man who has let power go to his head and uses it to lord it over everyone he comes in contact with. He believes that he is completely above being called out for any of his actions. So, at the moment in the courtroom when Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a lesser man in Col. Jessep’s opinion, takes him down, I usually holler, “Yes!”

It's a movie, I understand that, and the people are just actors, but the emotion it evokes in me is real. I have had times in my life when I was at the mercy of an individual who controlled my life with their heady power over me just because they could.

I don’t know any normal person who wouldn’t shout when the hammer drops on the evil doer. We don’t have to have been there, but somehow, we feel a part of the justice served.

I have no memory of being with God before the creation of the world, but the Word says that I was there. I had yet to be born into this sinful world. I came as every human being—born into this sinful nature. I had no way of avoiding it and neither have you. The world fell into sin by our original ancestral parents—Adam and Eve. Because of their sin, we become sinners.

You might cry out, “But I wasn’t there! I wouldn’t have done what they did! Why am I being punished?”

If that is your argument, you’re not alone. We all have thought the very same thing. But that would be missing the point. It doesn’t matter if we were physically there at the time; what matters right now, at this moment, is what is being offered to us as redemption. Wouldn’t you be more interested in hearing about someone coming to your defense? Now, no longer focusing on why, wouldn’t you be more interested in who it is who is now offering you complete payment for your sin? Wouldn’t you want someone to come tell you? Someone who saw and heard what was said and done?

There’s another place where I wasn’t physically present at the time it happened. Let’s look at this letter. Mark 16: 1-7 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

Here is the moment in time where what Jesus had been telling all who followed Him had happened. Now He wanted others to come see for themselves what these three women were privileged to be the first to know. But what always catches my eye are these two words—and Peter. Jesus had already known about Peter’s denial, cursing, and sinful conduct right before His crucifixion. He knew that Peter was riddled with anguish. Can you imagine when these women ran to tell the disciples and then turned and said, “And, Peter, Jesus made it a point to tell you that he wants to see you.”

Can you imagine the agony and perhaps fear that ran through Peter at having to face Jesus again? He knew what he had done. But what ends up happening is completely different than what Peter was expecting—what he knew he deserved. All his expectations had been dashed when Jesus was taken and crucified. So, Peter did the only thing he thought was left for him to do—he went back to fishing. I imagine him finding himself sitting in that boat once again, wondering what in the world had just happened, was torment. I hope you will take the time to read John Chapter 21.

Peter has to come face to face with Jesus and get what he knows he deserves. Unlike the character of Col. Jessep, who remains totally unrepentant of his actions, Peter comes humbly, deserving of whatever Jesus decides he deserves. In Peter’s mind, it certainly wasn’t breakfast and forgiveness.

None of us were physically there for any of the events in the Word of God. But the people who were there have sent Word for us to come, the Bible is God’s voice saying, “And (insert your name) Susan.” It’s God still saying through His Word, “I want to see you.” It can be one of the scariest happening or THE most forgiving, life-giving moment of your life. In this post today, I want my voice to be saying to each of you, “God wants to see you.”

If you take this invitation and humbly go to God, you’ll be wonderfully amazed by the outcome. Sadly, don’t be like the movie character Col. Jessep; there will be people who will never feel that they have done anything wrong, deserving judgment and the consequences of their actions.

I pray you are not one of those people.

I bless you.