“Do you think you’ll be able to take care of Chuck’s rosebushes?” my friend teased soon after we moved into our house.
Chuck, the former owner of our house, had greatly prized the six gorgeous rosebushes that put out a continual profusion of blooms in the bed beside our driveway. Perched on an incline above the street, they were on continual display to passersby and greatly admired.
“Of course I‘ll take care of them. They’re my rosebushes now. I like roses,” I said. “My mother had lots of them.”
After we moved in, I threw a little fertilizer on them occasionally and watered them when I thought about it. But the blooms became fewer and smaller.
Within three years, two of the bushes died, and I realized I didn’t actually know how to care for roses after all.
I certainly enjoyed seeing the pretty blooms and breathing in the intoxicating scent. I loved putting them in vases and letting the fragrance filter through the house. But I actually knew very little about roses—particularly about raising them. I was busy, and instead of taking the time with my adopted bushes to understand what they required of me, I took a lackadaisical attitude and assumed I knew what to do.
Sometimes I think I’ve done the same thing with my relationship with God. I assume I know what He wants, but I don’t. I go off half-cocked, doing my own thing, relying on my own understanding and then wonder why my spiritual life is dull and fruitless. And then it hits me. Do I really know Jesus? Do I really know who He is? If not, how do I have a relationship with Him? How do I know what He wants of me?
Who is This Jesus After All?
Recently I spent time reading the gospels. The person of Jesus came alive to me as I saw Him healing with compassion, challenging the self-righteous, and sowing fresh seeds of understanding in those who came to seek Him out. I saw Him suppress His mighty power and stand meekly before those who erroneously thought they held the power of His fate within their hands as He fulfilled His father’s plan to give us eternal life. I saw a Jesus whose understanding transcends anything my finite mind can fathom, a Jesus who shed His robe of eternity to wear the dusty sandals of a traveler on earth.
Who is this Jesus? If we want to know him, we need to spend time with him in the places where we can hear his voice—in the Word of God, in the garden alone with him, in prayer, and in the fellowship of others who seek him. We need to close our ears to the clamor of the world for a few minutes of each day and sit in His company. And then we need to open our eyes to watch what He does in our life and in the lives of those around us.
Some Things I Know and Some Things I Don’t
Who is this Jesus? I certainly don’t understand all the complexities of how he works—why some prayers are answered and some aren’t or why bad things happen to good people. But I do know He’s good and that I can trust him. I’ve learned this through the years as I’ve deepened my relationship with Him, particularly when He journeyed with me through the heart-rending time of my separation. I’ve watched Him heal lives that seemed beyond repair, and sometimes I sit back in wonder, marveling at how He can turn crisis into a higher blessing in the lives of His faithful believers.
Who is this Jesus—really? How do I get to know Him? I believe one of God’s purposes for us as mortals is that we ask that question and follow where He leads day by day. Knowing Him is an adventure we will explore all our lives. We just need to take the next step, then the next. We begin by reading the words He gave us and letting them sink into our hearts. We question Him and talk to Him and seek to understand His will. As we see what He’s trying to tell us, we obey Him without letting our feeble thinking get in the way.
When we do these things and follow in His footsteps instead of wandering off on our own, our day-to-day walk with Him will become more vibrant, His direction clearer, and the fruit of our lives more abundant. Then, one day when we meet Him face to face in our heavenly abode, we will see Him clearly and intimately and know this Jesus who walked with us and loved us throughout our lives.
Who is this Jesus? This Easter let’s take the time to find out.
© Linda Rooks 2019
Join the conversation: What new things are you learning about Jesus? Comment below.
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I met God when I was 9 years old and God has been in my life. I have had great times and ok times but I am learning that God is my light, and now during separation ,,,I am getting closer and closer to God , I am growing so much and I thank God. Also I trust God that he knows what best for me. God is my only and amazing light,
Katty,
Thank you so much for sharing. Yes, isn’t it amazing how God draws us close when we go through adversity when we look to Him for our strength. My experience was similar to yours. Even though my husband’s and my separation was the hardest time in in my life, it was also the sweetest time in my life with Jesus.