John 7 - Monday 28th October

Today’s chapter is John 7

Tom writes:

The trouble is, it is a ridiculous idea that God would walk on the earth.  If you are honest you will agree that, ever since the sin of Adam, we have all hidden from the idea that God would actually be found among us.  We happily buy into the idea of holy people, we even look for human ‘saviours’ who will get us out of our latest problem or give us a push up the next rung of the ladder.  Many buy into the concept of a divine force out there somewhere that we might be able to tap into like a Jedi. But the idea that the Almighty and Eternal One could actually appear before us and look pretty normal - well that is plain crazy.  And that was the problem of the crowds at the festival; they were looking to give things to God, they were even looking for God to give things to them - primarily a new powerful king messiah who could set them free from their problems - but they just did not seem to conceive of God himself coming to them.  As human beings we all have this same problem - we think God wants us to give him stuff, or that God wants to give us stuff and we miss the fact that God wants to come to us and befriend us.  God wants to come to us and change us.  God wants to come to us and put living water in us so that we might constantly feel fresh, constantly feel enlivened and constantly press into friendship with him. 

How are you doing on that one?  How are you doing in putting aside your pessimism and false sense of religious obligation and really perceiving God approaching you in shockingly intimate ways?  How is your friendship with God?  I must confess I constantly struggle with the blasphemous feel of the whole thing.  I constantly find myself wanting to hide in the trees and put on a fig leaf and watch God rather than have him come to me and minister my heart with his truth that sets me free.  But every day Jesus is here.  Every day Jesus is speaking to me his divine truth.  Every day Jesus is beckoning me to come and drink of his love.  The ridiculous thing would be to stay hiding in those trees and not come to the God who is standing in front of me.

Question for reflection

How is your friendship with God?