Who is Jesus? #151

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

Random Opening Thoughts

I guess turnabout is fair play. I used the last ten posts in the discussion "Ten Things You Must Know About Jesus." So now I turn things around and discuss "Ten Things Jesus Knows About You." Uh oh! I guess this could be a little uncomfortable. Maybe that is what we need...a little discomfort. Maybe there are some things we would rather Jesus not know about us. In our hearts we know that is not possible, He knows it all! Maybe it will be treated as an assessment by some of us to see just how far along we are in our spiritual journey and where we need to make correction.

Jesus said in John 10:27, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." That resounds with much comfort if you happen to be one of His sheep. The metaphor of shepherd and sheep comes alive as we conjure up all of the good things that a shepherd does for His sheep; calls them by name, protects them, feeds them, leads them. When Jesus identifies me, knows me, as one of His sheep, there is a great upside to that.

But then, there is also the pointed side of Jesus' knowledge of us. In John 5:42 He says, "but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts." Now, how does that make us feel? Of course, He was saying this to a group of people intent on taking His life because He did stuff on the Sabbath and claimed God as His Father.

I lost count of how many times the words "I know" appear in the letters to the seven churches of Asia in the chapters two and three of Revelation. Perhaps the most significant image from Revelation is the picture of Jesus from chapter one where He is seen walking among the seven golden lampstands which represent those seven churches.

He could have been on the outside looking in. He could have been positioned high above and looking down on those churches. Where we see Him is right where He needs to be - among the churches. So, when Jesus says He knows, there is no guesswork. He has positioned Himself to be able to say "I Know."

We are talking about the here and now. Whatever He may know about the past or whatever He may know about the future does not come into play here. He knows me now; what I am now, what I think now, what I do now. Let's explore what He knows about us. However, I think I will number them in reverse order this time.