«Jesus replied, ’Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?’ » (John 14:9, NLT).
I have found that when I straighten my hair, many people don’t recognize me. I jokingly told a friend one day. “If I want to commit a crime, all I have to do is straighten my hair and nobody will know it was me.» We both laughed, but it’s clear that what people remember most about my appearance is my curly hair. I find it almost comical that such a simple thing can confuse so many people, but something similar happened to Jesus.
At the end of His ministry, when Jesus was bidding farewell to His disciples and explaining to them the promise of the Holy Spirit, Philip said, “Lord. show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Surprised that after such a long time Philip did not recognize Him, Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?» (John 14:8,9, NLT).
If our image of God is distorted. just like Philip. even if we see Him face to face. we might not even recognize Him. Having the wrong image of God is a great emotional burden that fills us with guilt and fear. We sometimes develop wrong images as a result of a painful experience we can’t understand. Perhaps we were praying for a loved one to get well. but they died, and we can’t solve the conflict between God’s omnipotence and that tragedy. Other times. we project experiences we had with our parents unto God: if our parents were demanding and hard to please. or absent and unpredictable. we might believe God will also be that way toward us, according to what Eleonore van Haaften says in her book Vivir en libertad [Living freely].
We see God through the lens of our experiences, culture, and history. But Jesus tells us, «He who does not love, has not seen the Father.» All our ideas about God should be filtered through Christ. Any ideas that don’t harmonize with love, compassion, and God’s grace manifested in the person of Christ, are wrong and should be discarded. There is no contradiction between the Father and the Son. Those who see Jesus, see the Father.
Dear lord, please help me to relinquish any distorted idea I may have of you.
Show me Your love through Christ.
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Take From: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2022
«NO FEARS»
BY: VANEZA PISSUTO
Collaborators: Alexandra Perez & Angelica Cuate
