Who is Jesus? #157

Ten Things Jesus Knows About You

What You Do

In the letter to the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14), Jesus said, "I know your deeds." The New Century Version puts it this way, "I know what you do."

I don't know how I feel about that. In the case of the church at Laodicea their lukewarmness revealed what they were doing or weren't doing. It made Jesus sick to the point of vomiting them out of His mouth.

If Jesus knows what I am doing then I hope I am always doing the right thing. However, I know I'm not and He knows those slip-ups, too

Then there was the church at Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7). "I know what you do," says Jesus. This church was serving and remaining faithful even though they perceived themselves as weak. They were doing well. Again, I am O.K. with Jesus knowing when I do well, but I don't always do well, and  He knows that! Someone deliver me from this dilemma.

Maybe the solution is found in the thought that whether Jesus sees our deeds good or sees our deeds bad, He still loves us. He saw Peter when he denied Jesus three times, but He still commissioned Peter to a sheep-feeding ministry.

I remember one hot Texas afternoon during high school football practice that the coach had me playing middle linebacker. The offense ran a simple look-in pass to the tight end. The end had to stretch out completely to make the catch and I had him in my sights and could have driven him into next week. Instead I sort of caught him as he came down and we both tumbled to the ground. I believe we used to call that an arm tackle. I heard the coach make a grunting noise and then he let me have it for doing what he saw me do - arm tackle (He had a way of saying "arm tackle" that made you feel pretty wimpy).

Though he knew what I had done, and I knew what I had done, I was still part of the team. That failure at that time did not disqualify me from the team.

Jesus may see our failures but He doesn't disqualify us. When He sees them He may even let out a holy grunting noise of His own because He knows we can do better, and so do we. The bottom line is He is here for us. If that were not so, He would not have gone to the cross.

Jesus witnessed several acts of faithlessness or weak faith over the course of His ministry. He pointed them out so that people would take notice that He saw it and He knew they could do better. He was encouraging them on to greater things.

He doesn't just kick us off the team when we fail. Don't forget that promise. "I will never leave you, I will never forsake you."