You have heard it say many times that God’s ways are not our ways and that as far as the heavens are from the earth so are His thoughts from ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). However, even with such knowledge in the back of our minds, we still find ourselves dealing with God like He is our mate. I know as Christians, God is our Father, and because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God has become our Friend since we were once His enemies before that rescue mission of Jesus. Unfortunately, I believe we who have received this great gift of Salvation have become too accustomed to having God near us, and in us. The fact that we now have the Holy Spirit in us, the fact that we can now approach the Throne of grace boldly often make us trivialise the Might of the great God we serve and to our shame, we end up putting Him at our level instead of exalting Him the way we should. I was reminded this week while studying the book of John of this simple truth and specifically the mistakes we usually make by taking God as a mate. I will use three specific examples I saw in the first three chapters of John to illustrate how we often miss the salvation of God due to our own familiarity or understanding.
One of the beauties of the book of John is that it starts by bringing us back to the beginning where everything started. I believe apart from the book of Genesis, the book of John is the only other book that starts with the words “in the beginning”. John sets the tone of his book by impregnating in his audience the fact that God started everything. The idea of salvation is from God and came from God. Moreover, he tells us that familiarity has made us not see the salvation the Lord brought. Sure, there is also sin that blinded us but the fact is, being familiar with a certain way of worshipping made it difficult for the Jews to believe in Jesus. In the greatest salvation story we are told that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), that “the light shines in the darkness but darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5). One of the reasons that the salvation of God was missed by so many is because it came in a package they were not expecting, it came in a form they were not used to. It is true that Isaiah 9 prophesied about the coming of the Messiah yet when the Messiah came, he was missed. He didn’t fit the description the people had in their minds. This way of reasoning makes you rely on yourself and be righteous in your own eyes. The Jews believed they knew God, after all, they were the chosen people of God. Because of their familiarity with the ways of God, they were sure, they understood how God was to come into this earth as Messiah. Unfortunately, when the Messiah came they missed him and even crucified him. I am reminded of the statement Jesus makes to the Jews in a later chapter saying “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). This statement is proof that familiarity and the sin of being righteous in your own eyes can put you far away and make you miss the salvation of God.
Another example of how salvation can be missed is found in the story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana. This story is an incredible one, I love the fact that it shows the humanity of Jesus as he goes to mundane activities but what I love even more is how salvation is received here. In this wedding, a problem arises and it is a big one: there is no more wine! Now, in that culture, having a good name was very important and the fear of what others might say was a driver to what people did. The bible does not tell us much about the reason Mary, the mother of Jesus decided to make this issue her own but we do know that she brought it to the One who could resolve the issue. Regardless of the answer she received from her son, she did not budge and went ahead like someone whose prayer had already been answered instructing the servants with these words “do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). I believe we can all learn from Mary in our own petitions to our good Father. Jesus, upon telling his mother that “his hour had not yet come”, still instructed the servants to “fill the jars with water”. Now, the issue at hand was the lack of wine, yet Jesus’ instructions called for water. Not only that, he further instructed the servants to draw some water out and bring it to the master of the feast! Imagine what was going on in the servants’ minds as they obeyed! Their obedience paid off because we know this was the first miracle of Jesus which blessed many. Mary believed in Jesus for her salvation – in this case the resolution of the wine issue, and she knew Jesus would answer. She was expectant and she knew humility was the posture to have with God. Indeed, she was well versed in knowing that God’s ways are not ours (think of the Immaculate Conception). Unlike Mary, many of us would have missed this miracle, we would have missed this salvation of Jesus because we would have told him that this is not the way to proceed; that this does not make sense; we would have asked him perhaps for money to go buy some more wine in the neighbouring villages, etc. God’s salvation happens on His terms, we are the ones that need salvation not Him. He is God and does not ask us for how we want to be saved.
The last example I would like to use to show how salvation can be missed due to our familiarity is about the exchange Jesus had with Nicodemus. Nicodemus, was a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee and he came to Jesus at night. It is evident from John that what brought Nicodemus to Jesus were the signs Jesus performed. Being a man of authority in the religious circle and a teacher of the Law, Nicodemus was not satisfied with signs alone and so he went to meet Jesus to see for himself. During their exchange, Jesus tells Nicodemus that “unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Nicodemus, being advanced in age and based on his experience of life rightly asked how it is possible that a man be “born again”? This quest for truth propelled Jesus to continue answering Nicodemus’ questions. Jesus told Nicodemus that man must be born of Spirit which is what he means by being ‘born again’. Jesus went further to provide to Nicodemus the popular gospel verse we now know as John 3:16 which says “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. This statement introduced a whole new understanding to Nicodemus, for the first time he heard that our state as human is first a spiritual separation from God, which makes us spiritually dead. Nicodemus saw his own familiarity, his own understanding, being shattered by this statement and everything else that came from the encounter with Jesus. Salvation came, yet the world did not receive it, simply because the world leans on her own understanding. There is no way to accept the salvation of God if you do not humble yourself. Again, salvation belongs to God therefore it is His to dictate how one must receive it.
In closing, as you get more acquainted with the word of God, as you walk your Christian life, let me caution you to not think you know or understand the sayings of Jesus. Do not think to yourself that because the Spirit of God lives in you, you have the full understanding of what God has done, is doing or will do in your life and in the lives of others. Now, I know many of you will think to yourself that you do not do this but let me ask you a question, how many times have you sought God for a specific issue and the answer came in an unexpected way or through the mouth of someone you did not like and you disregarded it? It is easy to think that we usually receive the salvation of the Lord but the truth of the matter is that we reject His salvation because we have a specific way we want Him to save us or to bring about that change. But God is God, He is in heaven and He does all that He pleases (Psalm 115:3). Ours is to submit and be obedient. Like the servants at the wedding in Cana to whom Jesus told to do the unthinkable, let us do the same when he instructs us. He does not owe us an explanation, he has given us everything, the least we can do is to submit to him. May the Lord help us to stop leaning on our own understanding, to stop being so familiar with Him that we miss Him. May our awe of God never diminish. Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 