So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you … whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son … For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.”
(John 5:19-20a, 21 ESV)
I have a hard time relating to God the Father. For personal reasons, I simply can’t picture Him in my mind or imagine what He is like or what He might do. It’s very abstract. And I don’t relate well with abstractions. It’s kind of scary.
Thank God, He has given people like me something much more concrete to hold on to: God the Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. Do you want to know what the invisible God is like? Take a look at Jesus. See Him in the Gospels, teaching and comforting and healing. Watch Him deal patiently with those who doubt or argue. Listen to Him speaking gently to those who are afraid or outcast. This is what God is like—God in the flesh, come into our world as one of us.
But Jesus does more than that. When His ministry is complete, He voluntarily lays down His life on the cross in order to break the power of death and evil over the whole human race. He doesn’t have to, but He chooses to—because He loves us. And now that He has risen from the dead, He shares His everlasting life with everyone who trusts in Him. That’s a God I can hold on to and trust and love with all my heart.
We Pray: Lord, thank You for coming close to us and saving us. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
* Where did you pick up your own habits and ways of doing things?
* How can you get to know someone you have never seen?
* How do we know Jesus and what He is like?
Lenten Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Originally published in The Lutheran Hour on February 22, 2024
Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights