Relationship, baby

PREFACE: This is a response to a conversation I was having with a good friend, so just retain that frame of mind while you are reading. This was made some time around the end of April I believe, but I found it in my archive of files on my computer. Maybe someone will get something out of it.


WARNING: This is a long note to read

Last night I was praying on my way to Minneapolis in my vehicle about a lot of different things. One of the things that came up when I was talking to God was the whole idea or school of thought of Jesus being our best buddy/lover.

I clicked on my SME Devotional on my macsword for April 1 - there is a devotional for morning and for night, so I was going to read the one for the morning. It took a verse from Song of Solomon and proceeded to talk about Jesus from the lover standpoint. However, this was just the interpretation or feelings of the particular individual who wrote up the devotional. It went as follows:

Morning:
"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth." --Song of Solomon 1:2 For several days we have been dwelling upon the Saviour's passion, and for some little time to come we shall linger there...

It continues on, but I just wanted to give you that to show you the idea. Anyway, my thirst for wisdom in this area was not satiated, as this is not really irrefutable truth on the subject matter I was in a quest of understanding for, as this was just one person's inference. So I noticed something else - for like two or three weeks I have had John 14 open, and I have not had the heart to close out of it. Just so you know, I have many, many windows open in my mac sword at a given time because I usually get distracted, bored, or confused by something and figure I'll come back to it later.

I believe you made a reference to something out of John 14 a while back, so I went and looked up the verse and never exited out of the window. Tonight, I felt strongly that I should check this out. I believe God has given me the answer which I was searching for, albeit not necessarily what I want to hear. I'm going to copy/paste some of it and give you the run through on what went through my mind. Oh, and I've noticed that John 14 is chalk-full of all kinds of good stuff with so much I could make points about, but I'll try my best to stick to just this particular subject :p


JOHN 14
2 In my Father's house are many dwelling places: if it were not so, I would have told you. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and RECEIVE you to MYSELF that where I am, there you may be also. 4 AND YOU KNOW THE WAY TO THE PLACE WHERE I GO.

I put some of the important stuff to me in caps. Basically, ya know, Jesus is telling these dudes that everyone's got a place in heaven and He's going to go prepare a place for these guys when they die, and that they already know the way to heaven.

5 Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way?


In my head I'm picturing Thomas going "Wtf are you talking about Jesus?"

6.1 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:

And so Jesus annihilates Thomas's question with the most ridiculously awesome statement ever "I AM THE WAY" - The way to what though, I ask?

6.2 no man comes to the Father, but by me.

I've heard about this Jesus, but please elaborate.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it will satisfy us.

I love Philip, because this is basically exactly what I'm thinking. We are alike in the sense that we just want to see God and be with him. That's all Philly is wanting, just like me, so how's that gonna go down?

9.1 Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you do not know me, Philip? he who has seen me has seen the Father;

That's pretty effin' bold.

9.2 and how then do you say, Show us the Father? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
the words that I speak to you I do not speak of my own accord: but the Father who dwells in me, he does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me because of the works themselves.

So what I get out of this is that Jesus is blatantly saying, "Look, I am the answer. If you want to get to know God, get to know me. I'm not talking out of my butt here, fellas. I'm doing His will here as flesh and blood. You've been in the presence of God this whole time, and you're just now realizing this."

This is way more important than I initially realized. The biggest factor in the importance of having an intimate relationship with Jesus is the benefit of being able to understand the character of Jesus based upon his works and actions. See, we can read about the things Jesus did in the Bible and get an idea of his heart and character, you know? Like we have a record of what He did that we can go reflect on. Well we have that in the Old Testament with God himself, but it was more of commands God ordered or other prophecies and not really so much the character.

12 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes in me, the works that I do he shall do also; and he shall do greater works than these; because I go to my Father.

In this verse, I am interpreting "works" as not only the miracles Jesus performed, but just His actions in general. His general attitude, heart, character, and personality, the spirit of giving, things like that. The concept of the Lord is so...abstract and just crazy to grasp. But Jesus was a man. Its a lot easier to get to know a person rather than a God, because we have some experience dealing with people. That is really why I believe that Jesus said He was the way to get to the Father. If we know Jesus, we know God, there's no change - nothing's different. And I think that if we really read about the things Jesus did we can judge his character or "works" pretty well and see the goodness he had.


Just food for thought I guess...

13 And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. 15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;




To wrap up this novel, I don't think "best buddies" or "homeboys" is the proper relationship to have with Jesus. I really feel like its one of reverence, compassion, and a desire to get to know Him more. Its really hard to describe what I'm thinking, but to try my hardest here, I'd say that its a different kind of love and appreciation you don't feel for any other person. What gets me is not the dying on the cross, but His "no sweat" attitude and character, the loving of the people that hated him and his unfailing respect for those who disrespected him. How he would take in the unwanted, the broken, the unappreciated, and the sick. Just one dude that completely introduced a whole new concept to the whole world, I think that's phenomenal. Basically, it goes above and beyond the BFF stage, but I would not consider Jesus my "lover," because I envision a lover as...well, not that. I don't know, but I still don't see Jesus as the kind of lover from Song of Songs. I really don't feel like Jesus thinks my legs are like fine gems and my breasts like twin fawns, or vice versa, know what I'm saying?


Anywho, these are the conclusions I've come to. Feel free to call me out on something or share your opinions/thoughts/feelings/et cetera.




-Bert-