Spirituality in John, Getting a Grip

 A few years back when our family camped in Yellowstone National Park, one of our best experiences was at night. We had gone to a campsite with only our flashlights where a forest ranger gave a talk about the stars. It was a cool clear night and dark except every part of the sky was alight with the stars, especially the Milky Way. What was really amazing, we could see several satellites, small though they were, making their way across the stellar background. It was a spectacular evening. I could feel the atmosphere. I believe that night everyone of the people there had that lingering sense of being small in the midst of such an expansive universe. What was behind it all? And for many, who was behind it all? Whatever questions, feelings or impressions were there we can only imagine. However, for those who believed in God, it was awesome to say the least.

 When we open the door to spirituality we are fulfilling the destiny for which we were all created, a spiritual destiny. The question always lies before every human being, “Who is behind unseen reality?” Yes, who is behind all the unseen, the invisible, the being we can’t see behind the being we can see? To not ask that question is to deny one’s inner self. The self that reasons, feels, contemplates and analyzes everyday reality. It is that experience of intangibles that dictates our behavior. It is the ‘I am’ in us, the personal individual reality, the ‘me’ and the ‘myself.’ That’s spirituality in reality; a finality and an individuality with a personality, morality, emotionality, congeniality, cordiality, partiality, causality and all the other ‘-alitys.’ Reality within reality. That’s where the Gospel of John takes us.

 “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

 There is one impenetrable principle behind everything that has to do with the mind of God. You will never be able to get your mind around Him. And that, no more than you can get your mind around the massive universe in which we live. ‘Getting a grip’ is releasing your grip.

 If you want to understand God, you have to let Him get His mind around you.

 Think about that for a moment. Is there resistance to the very thought that God exists? What is the basis of that resistance? Why? The Bible will immediately identify it as sin, the spiritual resistance that our ego uses to deny anything we can’t control. Being in control is sin’s objective.

 Let’s look at three ways sin works against belief in God:

 First, we are created and that which is created is only a part of Creation. Look at the visible universe in which we live. Who thinks he can comprehend it, much less understand its working regardless of our scientific research? Can the pot understand the potter (Rom.9:20-21)? Who can counsel God the Creator (Job 40-41)? If not God, we concoct some fanciful theory to satisfy our need to be in control. Imperfect as we are, sin encourages us to ‘just be yourself.’

 Second, who can understand the infinite invisible context of invisible and visible existence but the One who created it? From the invisible person we are inside our bodies to the invisible workings of the universe, who can go behind the scene and fathom the unseen when we cannot even fathom what is seen (Psalm 8)? Again, we will invent some self-pleasing theory for dealing with the unseen forces around us. Sin applauds our superior intellect.

 Third, the fact of our personal, relational and spiritual needs not only as individuals but in our relationships with others. Do we not hunger and thirst for answers to who we are, what we are, why we are and where we are going from our birth to after our death (Psalm 9)? Again, we muster up the belief that we are basically good by thinking we are good and that our intentions are good. It’s other people who have the problem of being bad, lacking understanding. We place ourselves on the pedestal of being judge and jury as though we are perfect. ‘They’ is the problem. ‘They’ don’t have the insight we have. Sin gets us to place the blame on those who ‘don’t get it.’

 The Word may very well be imperceptible unseen concealed covert ethereal imponderable indiscernible intangible masked obscured supernatural ungraspable unnoticeable unobservable unperceivable unviewable veiled, yet it is as real as the self-consciousness we know when we ponder these words that attempt to fathom the amazing truth of what is really behind existence.

 Yet this Word, the Word, the mind of God, in the body of Jesus the Christ, was made known to us.

 And we have this special gift from Him, His written Word, to receive the Holy Spirit who brings the risen Jesus into our inner self. He has touched us. He has made Himself receivable, embraceable and intimate in each and every word, phrase and chapter. He enables us to be in touch with others. But the real ultimate touch is the one we have with God in Jesus. In Him we are in touch with the person we are within. He is the One who gets us in touch with Him. That’s when everything and everyone makes sense. I make sense. We know who and what we are.

 Also, everyone is born with a spiritual sensitivity. We are constantly monitoring the invisible around us. We question what takes place in people we talk to. We try and decipher the meaning of their words. We look deep into emotions displayed by others. We question our own responses and seek a better way to respond. This is where the Lord Jesus gives us the way, the truth and the life. To be humble before Him, to learn from Him, to let Him be our guide, is when we become human. Now we’re getting a grip by not getting a grip.

 However, there is only one receptor, one born-in ability, one necessary way to experience spirituality and that is through faith. When that inner self is willing to reach out from within and believe, then and only then does the Word touch the reality, the ‘I am,’ that lies within us. That’s when God makes Himself real in us. That’s when He does things for each of us personally. He gives us an experience of Him. This is what Jesus came to do. Through His life, death and Resurrection He reveals the invisible reality behind everything, the Kingdom of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He gives us His perspective and His Spirit to live it through.

 But very specifically for our purpose here, we zero in on the Gospel of John. So, when it comes to the other Gospels, a cursory reading of them reveals Jesus as perfect person, wonderworker, a miracle worker and the real Messiah. However, it is John that takes all those ingredients, puts them in a spiritual context and takes us to the next level of human experience, the spiritual level.

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