Michele Oates

I long for people to know Jesus. I want to say so often, if you only knew. If you just knew. And, yes, what he’d do for you. Yes, yes, of course! The gracing, saving, redeeming, cleansing, restoring, healing, transforming, gifting and on and on, beyond our imaginings. But more than that, to know who Jesus is. To grasp the truth of his preeminence. To understand that there is no one like him. No one who loves like him. No one who stays like him. No one who is holy like him. Righteous and just. And GOOD. He is so good. No one who is compassionate and merciful like him. No one who knows what he knows. And forgives what he forgives. Jesus is a stand-alone. I long for those who do not yet know him like this to know him well enough that you may be astonished by people who represent him poorly or inadequately but you do not confuse them/us with Jesus. He will prove true when everyone else proves a liar. I’m moved every time I get to the part of Philippians 3 where Paul states his entire aim in life and death: “I want to know Christ!” This is what I want. This is what I long for in my living and my dying. This is my longing this morning for both of us, my sister. For both of us, my brother. Oh, that we would know the true Christ. He is the one and only.