Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do we see Christ in each other? Or do we only know each other by our flesh?
My apologies for those leading questions. Recent events caused me to think in these terms.
During the holiday I had the occasion to visit my home church in San Marcos. As I entered into the topical study class I found myself in the midst of several new faces. There were those I knew from the past and our relationships remained the same. It was these new members that I discovered that getting to know them took me to a place of trying to see Christ in people I did not know.
There were three men in the group and in each I recognized a reflection of myself at different times in my own experience. It took me back to different walks of faith as I grew in Christ. For two of these men I found a comfortable safe place and reassurance in the path they were on with Christ.
Then there was the third. My thoughts went to a time in my life where knowledge was more important than relationships and it became difficult to see Christ in Him because I could only focus on who I was back then. That was a kind of knowing others in the flesh, seeing ourselves in them.
I spoke to the elder after the class about him and I found that he was in the man’s life and had a deeper insight into what was going on with him. The elder wasn’t blinded by a vision of self-reflection. He could help that man in the same way he helped me years ago to focus on what is important in our walk with Christ.
It became apparent to me that the last thing I should do was to talk to this third man and say, “I was once like you.” That would be received as judgment and cause a wall between the two of us. Thanks be to God that I kept my thoughts to myself.
Taming the Tongue
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.