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REFLECTION 1: GOD LOVES STARING CONTESTS
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." John 1:18 Are you a "starer" or a mere "glancer?" Glancers can catch a few partial details about an object. But "glancing" cannot penetrate the true essence of a thing. Only "staring" with intense focus on the object brings deep insight and keen understanding. When I stare at something physically, mentally or spiritually, all sorts of things start to occur me--- deep things, fresh things, powerful things. But when I am bouncing off the wall glancing about here, there and everywhere, I don't access anything deep, new or profound. I am distracted, shallow and vulnerable. Something about staring salivates our imagination, intuition and senses to flow toward an object to rightly perceive and experientially TASTE it. Lovers stare intently into each other's eyes. What they discover there far transcends anything mere words or quick glances can convey. They capture each others' mystery, essence and imagination. So do men of courage lock eyes with both friend and foe. Here, warmth, courage or strength manifests through the stare of one man to another. But men of weak resolve or affection often can't look another in the eye without quickly averting their eyes away. They are too ashamed, intimidated, distracted or tentative to laser-lock their focus onto the other.When it comes to God, it is never impolite to stare. In fact, wholehearted staring is the ONLY way to behold the true nature of God. Glancers at God can pick up a few superficial insights about Him, but only starers at God can peer into His flawless heart and perceive His limitless love. The word for "seen" in the above passage is the Greek "horao" and means "to stare at and discern clearly (physically or mentally)." This verse says nobody in the Old Testament, and the Apostle John meant nobody, had stared at God intently enough to discern His true essence or nature. Not Adam, not Abraham, not Moses, not even King David. For sure these Old Testament saints had glimpses and glances of God. Glimpses and glances, glances and glimpses. Partial and dim, remote and distant. Old Testament saints simply did not have an intimately accurate and constantly consistent view of God. John 1:17 actually tells us that the law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. WOW! This is a stunning statement for it clearly implies that the Old Testament law did NOT impart grace or truth to God's people. Recognizing this is a foundational key to the goodness of God. The law brings NOBODY to the heart of God. Yet people today still largely live by the law, by superficial glances at rules and regulations RATHER than staring deeply into the valiant heart and pulsating goodness of God. The law was for glancers whose hearts would not and could not stare at God's nature with enough focus to receive the revelation of His true nature. The law was for fallen men who live by their own righteousness. The law was there to show that all men have spiritual ADD. ADD stands for Attention Deficit Disorder and describes a condition in which a person is unable to focus on one thing for a prolonged period. Their attention bounces back and forth unable to totally invest in one topic. They are literally victimized by distraction and lack of focus. The law was there to show that man in his own righteousness could not maintain the focus needed to rightly see and relate to God. Certainly the law gave a few superficial and shallow insights into what God values, but it did not impart the Logos of grace and truth to man. Logos means "the expressed essence of something." Jesus is the Logos of God. He remained at all times in the "Father's bosom" STARING at His perfect heart. "Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these things also doeth the Son likewise."John 5:19. What Jesus saw from Father-staring, He then manifested and performed as the works of God.The best news is that by staring at God, we become like Him. His same nature is imparted to and through us. By staring at Him in awe and yieldedness, we absorb Him into every fiber of our being. Wonderful things start to occur and occur and occur to us. Dots of joy, peace and love start to connect within us forming the very nature of Christ. THEN we manifest Him outwardly to the world. Old Testament God-glancing never reproduces the life of Christ within us. New Testament God-staring reproduces the life of Christ.Listen to the following passage which contrasts God-glancing with God-staring. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he BEHOLDETH himself, and goeth his way, and straightway FORGETTETH what manner of man he was. But whoso LOOKETH into the perfect law of liberty, AND CONTINUETH therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:22-25. God-glancers behold, then look away, then forget who they are and who God is. God-starers look, lock and remember who they are in Christ and who Christ is in God. For several years I had been a God-starer. But two years ago I started glancing more and more while staring less and less. My awe of God diminished. I became vulnerable and fell into sin. But praise God, the days of awe have returned. Like the pose shown by the famous statute called The Thinker, let's all assume the alert heart posture of one who sits on the edge of their seat staring at their Savior in focused awe. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18. May we all be wide-eyed GOD-GAZERS from this day onward to forever! Click here to add text.
