Happy Friday, sweet mango friends! We’ve got a special guest post today from Debbie Kea, who is the mother of a previous guest poster – Christy Kea Cook. We surely appreciate these ladies in our sisterhood! I suspect this post may convict you as it convicts me. How many times do we focus on our own wants and desires and not those of our Father and our Lord Jesus? Too many. Let’s get back to basics. ~Kristen
Have you ever gotten a really bad gift from your husband? Or your mother or someone who you thought should know you really well? You stand there, dumbfounded, because you know them very well. And you always get them exactly what they like, what fits their personality, right? But here, in your hand, is something absurd, so you hear yourself saying, “Do you even know me? How long have you lived with me??” They might respond with “Well, I didn’t know what to get you.” To which you almost want to scream in frustration, “Why not? Are you paying NO attention to me?”
One particular verse in the Bible made me think about this. Jesus said it: “Have I been so long a time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” (John 14:9) At times, even the Lord felt the same way we do. But I fear the Lord could say this to me, to us all, as He did to Philip. What does His question imply about us?
- We are not spending enough time with Jesus. We are not reading His words enough. We are not drawing closer to Him by listening to Him.
- We are not spending time with His Father. We are not praying enough. We are not being humbled by kneeling at the cross. (James 4:10)
- We are not asking ourselves what would please Jesus in this situation. Do we even know what would please Him? Only God’s Word tells us.
- We are not accepting the troubles and storms of life as the preparation we need so that we might be fit for heaven. We are not building our lives on The Rock! How can we if we don’t even know Who the Rock is or where to find Him? (Luke 11:28)
- We have been Christians, how long now? Yet, we find ourselves struggling with the same sins, not walking in the Spirit any more than we did yesterday, or even years ago! We don’t remember what our purpose is, moment by moment. We have forgotten the only way to be truly happy is to become like Jesus and be servants. (Matthew 20:27-28)
- We are treating our Savior like an acquaintance, not a dear Friend and Brother. Acquaintances are someone you hardly know except in passing. You may not even remember where you met them or who they are related to, and if you couldn’t remember their name it would hardly matter. How many of us treat the Lord like that? Or are we so intimately acquainted with Him that we know what He would say and do about life’s circumstances, good or bad? We recognize Him, even far off, like John did when He saw Jesus on the shore after the resurrection! And we, like Peter, will jump out of the boat to run to Him! (John 21:7) Not only do we know His name, we know what His name means, and we know His parents and His closest friends. We know those who are loyal to Him and those who betray Him.
May it be our earnest prayer to grow closer to our Lord, to know Him so well that the gifts we bring to Him will be exactly what He wants, what will please Him, and not ourselves. He will know we’ve been paying attention, and that we value what He says and what He loves.
Debbie has been a preacher’s wife for 41 years. She and her husband Randy have two children, Clint and Christy, and seven grandchildren. Debbie just retired this year from teaching high school English. She has written several books herself: We’re All Wounded: From Broken to Beautiful, Forty Years on the Second Pew, and Young People in the Bible. Debbie teaches the high school/college-aged girls right now in Griffin, Georgia, at Westside Church of Christ, but she has taught all ages, usually writing her own material. She enjoys speaking at ladies days, retreats, and teacher workshops and has made two mission trips to American Samoa and the Fiji Islands. In addition to writing, Debbie loves to read, crochet, collect teapots, birds, and church houses, and spend time with her grandchildren.
