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CHAPTER 1

Who is Jesus?

'I can admire Him but ...'

'I suppose He's the greatest person who ever lived.'

'I can't believe all that the Bible says about Him, just because fairy tales are pleasant.'

Here you are in this vast, apparently impersonal, puzzling universe. If a voice whispered, 'Behind all this, I assure you, there is a loving God,' there are times when you might not be convinced!

'Believers' seem to fall, very roughly, into two categories. The first group put Jesus on a pedestal. He is God. He has all things in His hands. Watching Jesus walk about Palestine, people were looking at the God of this universe incredibly revealed in a human life.

Then there is a second group. While believing in God, they are not too sure about Jesus being all He claimed to be or was reported to be.

And so how does Jesus fit into the universe in which we say, 'There is a God who loves us', but which contains so much that is frightening or meaningless? For the honest person, the two seem so hard to reconcile, don't they?

Well, in this sort of world, don't you feel glad, as I do, that we've heard the name Jesus? You will have guessed that I'm not with those in the second group. I regard Jesus as supreme in the whole scheme of creation. Knowing what He has come to mean to me, and to so many that I used to meet in the wards of our hospitals, I couldn't do otherwise! In Jesus we experience all we will ever need to experience God. God the Father's tremendous love just shines through Jesus His Son – as much of that love as we could ever want.

They're one!

Using some cameras, you have to twiddle the knob until two images coincide. When they do, you're in focus. It's so sad that there are many people today who have two religious 'images'. First there's God, the Father, the Creator. Secondly there's Jesus whom they feel may or may not have been God revealed in human form.

It is when these images 'God' and 'Jesus' coincide, that religion starts to become excitingly alive! God, our Father, becomes real and close to you when you find Him in Jesus. Yes, I know it could be dangerous to confuse them, forgetting that there is a Father and there is a Son. But both are God. The real danger comes when they become 'split' – or when Jesus is slightly demoted, as so often happens today.

If you had a chance to eavesdrop on one or two people of deep faith saying their prayers, you'd find that the words 'Father' and 'Jesus' are used interchangeably towards the Person they are addressing.

Before those increasingly complex creeds were composed, the very early Christians seem to have had just one phrase by which they lived: 'Jesus is Lord'. For practical, working purposes, God was the God they saw in Jesus. Karl Barth, a giant among theologians, puts it in this way: 'From the very start, in trying to think of God, we've just got to think of Jesus Christ.' But many people today tend to push Jesus on one side with a big question mark over Him. And then they go on to say how sure they feel about God! It just doesn't work.

Jesus said to his friends in Palestine: 'If you've seen Me, you've seen God.' How about that! Think of what this means for you if you want Him to be your friend and companion. It's in Jesus that we see God defined in all His love and power.

Listen to an Indian doctor – bright blue turban, black beard – as he takes a few minutes off from the ward to ask about becoming a Christian: 'If you believe in God, what better way could anyone imagine of Him revealing Himself than in a human life?' Exactly, Dr Singh! You non-Christians are often more truly Christian than some of us 'professionals'!

He did it!

Have I perhaps been making it sound a bit too simple or a bit too patronizing? Because, after all, people have studied for centuries the complex question of just how the divine and human natures could meet in Jesus.

Well, even if the 'how' of it is rather puzzling, it is perfectly reasonable just to accept that God did it – that He showed us Himself, perfectly, in Jesus. If he didn't, I think I'd find it very difficult to believe in God in a universe like this, wouldn't you?

God, in fact, is not that unknowable 'wholly-other' being whom many sadly feel they have to accept. We look at Jesus and discover what a wonderful God we've got after all.

Rather like that little girl, blind from birth, who had the bandages removed after a successful operation, saw her father smiling down at her and said: 'Just to think I've had a lovely dad like that all along.'

So why not see yourself in Group Number One – ready to believe the very best of Jesus? If you do, the whole business of 'God' is going to come to life for you. I know that this is what Christianity is supposed to be all about – but sometimes you wonder what has happened!

The 'bigger' your view of Jesus, the more you're going to expect from Him. And with Jesus – just to show that He is God – you're not going to be disappointed.

It's always worth keeping firmly in mind that, when Jesus began life in that smelly stable, this was God breaking into our world and experiencing, in the closest possible way, all the hopes and all the heartbreaks of being human.

The New Testament, as you know, comes from a wide variety of writers – but you can't escape the message which runs right through: that Jesus is over all things – past, present and future.

Now, I realise that you will want to use your reason courageously. You won't want to hide from facts and create a fairy tale Jesus. But the remarkable thing is that countless people using the reasoning method about Jesus have ended up sure that He is someone on whom they can pin all their hopes.

You too can look forward to the time when all the arguments stop and there comes the certainty that Jesus is all that His loved ones through the centuries have said that He is.

I've been allowed to see Jesus do many wonderful things for people. But what I'm interested in now is Jesus doing something not for them, but for you.

Friend plus

Is 'Friend' just a sentimental and reassuring title, helping us to escape a little from the realities of life? Is it a pleasant fantasy which has nothing to do with what life is all about?

To have a true human friend is, of course, one of the most relaxing things. You don't have to pretend with that friend. That friend is concerned about you, shares with you, wants your best interests. But there will be many reading this who don't have a human friend in that category.

So what about the friendship of Jesus?

That friendship is all the things we've just thought about – but so much more. There's permanence (our loved ones or friends may be lost, of course); there's knowledge of our past, present and future – with a resultant wisdom which will always plan what is best for us. There is all the power and majesty of God.

I have the feeling that you're not going to give up now. If so, congratulations!

Dear Lord,

I'm aware of many doubts – about You and about myself. I can't hide from You that often I'm unsure of Your existence. And yet Ifeel that truly to know Your friendship is the best thing this life can offer. So please let me know You and, above everything else, as my Friend.

Thank you.

Just Love!

People often forget that the friendship of Jesus really depends upon one thing. I'm sure you have guessed what it is. He doesn't become our Friend because of good works, our virtue, our churchgoing, our determination, the amount of faith we can produce.

You're ahead of me! You've already guessed what is the big factor. Yes, it all depends upon the love of Jesus. Let's think about it for a few moments.

There are those who come to feel the warmth of Jesus' love deeply. But, sadly, there are many others who, though they 'believe', do not feel His love for them at all. Many people have areas deep within where God is anything but love. At this deep level, there can be a feeling that He often treats His children worse than we treat our own. And so, although a person may outwardly protest, 'Of course, God is love,' it does always find an echo in the very deepest part of that person.

On this shaky foundation, many go on to build a life of trying to 'serve Him', 'helping the Church', which often becomes a grim business.

And so, task number one — and it's a pleasant one! Start thinking, as never before, about the indescribable love of Jesus, our Lord. See it in His life on earth. See it in the way He let Himself be killed for you and me. Look and look at that love — until it begins to sink deep into you.

And it does sink down, whatever those 'barriers' of yours. Deep inside you, God's Spirit is going to be working. And you'll become increasingly sure of Jesus' love for you.

Hold on a moment!

'Surely Christianity is not all about going around with a cosy sense of His love! What about the practical job of just doing what He tells us?' This is a down-to-earth member of the church down the road, who'll be popping up occasionally during the rest of our book — he's Adrian.

What Adrian is failing to realise is that those who really experience the love of Jesus every day want to please Him more than anything else.

In other words, 'doing what He tells us' coming naturally — rather than the grim (often resentful) 'obedience' and 'good works' of those who don't feel His love.

It's vital to allow plenty of time to think about the love of Jesus before 'finding His will' or asking 'what form shall my service for Him take?' So could we consider one or two things? They will sound pretty familiar, but it's surprising what can happen to you when you really focus on them:

• The love flowing from Jesus (which is the love of God our Father) just could not be stronger.

• The love is lasting love. He is not capricious.

• He longs for us to know that love.

• His dearest wish is our happiness.

I wonder if you are one of those who feel that they don't deserve His love? (A lot of people I talk to feel this way.) If you are, may I say:

• He, in fact, thinks the world of you — in spite of all you may think about yourself.

• He accepts you, with all your imperfections — which is why He is so much greater than often our consciences are!

People, in reaching out for God, have often been led to think, 'I must go and be useful for such-and-such a church,' and 'I must make some promises to Him.' They might have been wiser to spend a day or two just telling themselves 'He loves me!' Though it appears that religion has been made very complex, it isn't really. It all hangs on those three little words.

So don't rush this vital stage of thinking about how much Jesus, our Lord, loves you. Don't be over-anxious for the moment, about what you feel you 'ought' to be doing for Him. Don't be anxious, even, about those personal needs with which you desperately want Him to deal!

Just let His love be very much in your thoughts. As you do so, the foundation is being built for His friendship to be experienced in increasingly exciting ways.

Dear Lord,

Please let me have a deep awareness of Your love — and let our friendship grow from this.

Thank you.

What His Friendship Brings

Just a few moments to look at some things which happen if Jesus is your Friend. By the way, if you decide to seek His friendship, it's going to settle a lot of conflicts about smaller decisions in the future!

It means that you begin to give all your concerns from your often uncertain hands into His very sure ones. It means that, even when your situation is far from perfect, you're still going to enjoy Him with you.

Thinking of His love, you'll begin to relax a little. You'll begin to put your trust — not in your efforts, your 'status' or your achievements, but in what He is.

It will seem as if nothing in your life is outside Jesus any more. He will influence your thinking, conversations and decision-making. You'll be calm — and with a growing feeling that you're never alone. As the sense of the friendship deepens, you'll almost enjoy uncertain situations because you're meeting them with Him!

You're going to find that, instead of tense efforts at 'being virtuous', there'll be a new self — a Jesus-filled self. How much a person misses, until he or she sees that living close to Jesus is much more about receiving and trusting than it is about trying frantically!

Those situations, which used to send you to pieces — you're going to meet them successfully. You'll find yourself taking for granted that Jesus is in every situation before you reach it — and a wonderful thing happens. You become increasingly aware of 'adverse circumstances' actually being made to work for a good purpose — sometimes many times in a day. You'll find doors opening, things 'happening'; you'll find people coming (or not coming!). If Jesus really shares your life, He draws together all its complex interests and activities.

You?

I wonder if you're inclined to be shy, looking inwards a lot? With Jesus you begin to look away from yourself and your conflicts and increasingly at Him. This makes a huge difference in your life as you can guess. Ask some of those who used not to sleep very well! There's one tremendous thing about Jesus. He always helps us to believe in ourselves. And, because of this, you'll start to find a quiet joy of a sort you never had before — even at those times you used to call 'pleasure', even if you're hardly the dynamic or extrovert type!

Just a second to look at three people with whom Jesus was in contact:

• Zaccheus, tax collector, made a very undignified ascent of a tree to see Jesus.

• A woman with a long-standing illness pushed through a crowd, just to touch his clothes.

• A paralysed man, with friends' help, got himself to Jesus the hard way — through the roof.

They all 'meant business', didn't they? And, because of this, something happened. So don't forget that priority, will you?

I'm pretty sure that your wish is to deeply experience Jesus' friendship. If so, you can be sure about one thing — the process has already begun. And He's got so much to give you!

Dear Lord,

I may have misgivings, but I am going to expect the very best from you. Please help me, because I know you want me really to enjoy your friendship — always.

Thank you.

Just Accepting!

This is probably the most difficult chapter in the book to write — because you're unique! It mustn't sound as if the friendship of Jesus depends on your going through some sort of formula. You don't have to find the right words, in order to 'capture' Him!

Jesus wants to grant your wish to know His love, in a way which will be indelible in your mind. He wants to do it in a way which will stand up to those swings of mood and sudden changes in your circumstances which lie ahead. So you've got to be pretty sure, on looking back, of what you thought and did at the time of really accepting His friendship.

You may have asked yourself the sort of questions which follow. They're worth asking, if you've never done so.

Here they are:

• Do I really want Jesus, not just as a helpful influence or because of some specific need or as a means of self-improvement — but as a friend who can do absolutely what He wants with me?

• Can He look at me and really know that He has all of me — ambitions, the future — everything? Can He?

• Am I prepared, not just to enjoy the comforting sense of His love, but to face some of the not-so-pleasant things in myself?

• Am I prepared to go with Him, perhaps through strange places, knowing that the only tragic thing in life is to walk alone — in the wrong directions?

When you consciously accept for yourself the love and friendship of Jesus, it's often accompanied by a desperate sense of 'needing something'. Sometimes too it's accompanied by a sort of abandonment — a throwing away of yourself, because you need Him so much.

Brian Hession was a brave man who inspired many who knew him by his wonderful faith, while under sentence of death and cancer. He once said that the most important step in the life of a Christian was the one in which he or she just 'went flop' in the presence of Jesus.

Yes, just dropping all our images, our pretences, and telling Him how very much we need Him. He loves to hear that!

I know you'll expect God to deal with each one of us in a distinctive way. Here's John — usually a confident, very self-sufficient person. He may be brought to a position of seeing how little he has without God or how much he needs the forgiveness of God. Here's Susan — she rather expects everything to happen fatalistically and passively. She may find Jesus leading her into letting herself influence events a bit more!

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Excerpted from "The Friendship of Jesus and God's Secret"
by .
Copyright © 2018 John Woolley.
Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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