Hey, Jesus! What do you think?
Jesus came to reveal the true nature of the Father. Right away He offended the Pharisees by making this declaration in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.” This really upset them because they had in their scriptures as we do today where it says Moses saw Yahweh face-to-face. Moses saw an aspect of Yahweh. He did not see the fullness. They took that one image of Yahweh and developed a whole religion around it.
Even people in the church misunderstand things. We often think that those who don’t attend church are far from Yahweh and question why they don’t surrender to Jesus. They have not seen a true picture of the Father. Instead, they see a God who is quick to judge and punishes harshly, even sacrificing His son just to be able to look at us. This is a damaging view the church has presented to the world.
Jesus came saying, “Metanoia, repent.” We have taken repentance has saying you're sorry and asking for forgiveness to only keep doing the same thing over and over. What does metanoia really mean? The origin of the word is Greek and means to change one’s mind or perspective. We are not saying you shouldn’t ask for forgiveness when you have done something that disagrees with Abba’s plan for your life. Obviously, as lovers of Jesus when we do opposite of what we know to be true with Jesus we need to bring it to Him and let Him talk to us about it. But we must remember there is no shame and condemnation with the Father. He is always ready to pour out grace and mercy and love us right into His lap.
We see the word repent a lot in the New Testament. Why was it so important for Jesus to emphasize over and over change the way you think? Your entire life is lived out by the way you think. All of your decisions come from how you see things. If we don't see things as He does, we'll make the wrong choices. This doesn’t just affect us as individuals. It affects our children and grandchildren. It affects those who desperately need to see the correct image of the Father.
How do we change the way we think? By exposing our thoughts to Him. For example, growing up you watch how your parents’ handled money. If they were not good with money you are most likely to not be good with it either. If they did not communicate well, guess what? I remember thinking as a child there were certain things my mom would say and do as a measure of discipline, that I said I would never do as a parent. Before coming into this measure of beloved identity I would find myself saying and doing some of the same things she did. Every time I did, I would bring it to Him and say I don’t want to do it that way. We change these patterns by exposing our thoughts to His. He always has a better way with finances, parenting, work, and family matters.
Ask Jesus what He thinks about it. How does He see it? We can learn the answer to these questions by reading the scriptures looking for Him, taking a quiet moment with our thoughts on Him, listening for Him to speak. One of my favorite ways of knowing Him better is looking for Him throughout my day wherever I am going or whatever I’m doing. He really is in every moment. He always has something to say to us to show us a better way. The Kingdom way. Today begin to bring everything to Him even things that seem to work well. Is it how He sees it?
Arise, and shine! You are a city set on a hill! We must start thinking like it!
