Jesus said to her ¨Did I not tell you that if you believed you should see God´s glory? ¨ John 11:40
As usually the case Jesus exposes human propensity to bring all things down to our level and our understanding. We walk here on earth as if God and His kingdom do not exist. To this sin and shortcoming we are all guilty in a thousand little ways every day. When Jesus says that we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory, He refers to this quite directly.
God does exist even when we are not thinking of Him. He still sit on the throne of the One who planned, created, sustained and redeemed. His authority and power are never reduced because of our lack of awareness or shortcomings in understanding of Him. With unending patience and unfathomable mercy, He has watched us over the centuries turn to whatever else caught our attention and placed itself before our relation to Him. Whether it were idols, empty religious rituals or traditions, shallow or dishonest forms of worship, or simply putting our own agenda before His, He has watched, waited and called us to return.
Here in our text today Jesus reminds us that this is nothing new. We have always had instruction as to what and where our affections should be set. God has, since the beginning of the Human race and throughout the Bible, been constantly directing His people back to Him. Here He simply says ¨Did I not tell you¨. With words like this Jesus exposes us to our lack of faith. We are guilty of not taking our Lord at His word. This would be bad enough in isolated cases but I am afraid that the words of Jesus, like that double-edged sword, cut through and contain powerful instruction and warning that reaches to nearly every important area of our walk here on earth.
In fact, if we learned to take God at His word and honestly give Him the attention and position He has called us to give Him, our entire lives and futures would come into complete alignment and we would be ushered into His presence experientially. All of God´s promises would become reality to us as we nail self and all its´ ways to the cross and truly focus on Him.
A properly sized impression of who and what God is should be cure sufficient to correct our lack of belief, but due to the effects of sin and the Devils cleavage here on earth and in the selfish hearts we possess, it is sadly a common problem indeed.
Then Jesus cuts straight to the crucial part of the statement, ¨if you believed.¨ It is right and fitting that He gives a light towards correction. Jesus, being the very Way and loving us enough to come to us and give His own life for us, would use each and every word He spoke to the nurturing and restoring of His lambs to His fold.
Automatically the doors of Heaven swing open and all the powers can begin to work for that blessed soul which stands to face the headwinds that try to blow us from the directing of our hearts toward God. It is unnatural enough for a man to claim to follow Christ and set the world against Himself as he steps out of the popular way of thought and direction of society. However, the one who actually attempts to go further and place Christ as the reason, the cause and the goal of every thought and action, this spiritual renegade places himself directly in the face of our adversary the Devil.
Within this short text Christ packs a powerful message which continues to mount in importance and wonderful truth. He uses the first part to set the scene and now He hits us with the astounding. ¨You will see the glory of God¨.
Perhaps you will say that you have read this text a thousand times and you and all the rest of the world know for a fact that Jesus was speaking about that moment when He called Lazarus from the grave. It is true but highly limiting words when we consider who we are speaking of here. Had it been anyone else who ever walked the face of the earth, we could assume that He spoke only of that moment. But we attest to the fact that we believe Jesus came from God Himself. We say at least, that Jesus came here to teach us and to show us the way to return to the God who made us and saves us.
If we can claim to hold these things true, then we should give wings to every word and every instruction we possibly have that came from Him. Lift Jesus up and His words with Him, and we place ourselves in a state of mind and soul where we may be instructed. The Holy Spirit may begin to work and move in our hearts and our lives. The Spirit does not work only in secret below the level of our conscious. When we begin to lift Jesus and the scriptures higher that the low interpretations the world has set upon them, the Spirit can and will begin to move in ways that can be seen and felt.
The testimonies of so many saints who have gone before should be enough to raise our expectations. But to a people who claim to believe in the name of the Lord, a simple hope should ignite the flame that can be blown into a raging fire that burns ever more intense towards knowing and loving Jesus.
I for one am curious to see the glory of God. I know in my current state it would be fatal and my limited resources could not contain even a part of what that encompasses. But for me this is just one more thing I have to lift up to my God and say, ¨not in me nor for me, but in You and for You be all things!¨
God has promised so much, and because of who He is, those promises are more sure than you and I can imagine. Along with those promises He has assured us that there will be some who go that far. He has not given us the hope that it will be given to everyone, but rather to those who have demonstrated that they did indeed desire it enough to take Him at His word. It matters little to you or me, that we are not able to get our understanding completely around the spiritual concepts. He has shown us that to accomplish that is outside of our current capabilities. But He has also shown us that what He has asked is that we lift Him up, that we set our hearts on Him as the single most important thing to our existence. He called us to lift everything in our lives, our thoughts and the very intention behind it all, unto Him as if it were a sacrifice or an offering. We take nothing as our own because what we desire is Him. This in turn pleases Him and all that He has promised is ours. However, a person so afflicted with their savior, immediately offers that too unto the apple of your eye.
Let us make more of God today. Let us lift Him up just a little higher than before. If it were possible, let us lift Him up a lot higher. Let us do it in thought, prayer, in action and include every area of our lives and every last possession and talent.
This is why you and I are really here. This was the intention God had when He created us. To lift up our hearts unceasingly unto Him in conscious worship and communion is our highest goal. Nothing else is so important, not even breathing. May we start up a path that leads our hearts into tuning themselves such unto God. Then we will be like Martha, Lazarus´ sister, and we will hear Jesus say to us, ¨Didn´t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the Glory of God?¨
Come my Lord, I would love to believe. Help me today and give me that kind of belief so that I may have the hope of seeing your glory!
Scott W
Searching For Christ 
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