Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I don't know if you've experienced this or seen it in a movie or a TV show. We have these situations where you know that you are going to be without somebody—you may not ever be able to see them again, or they're so far away you just can't spend time with them or actually see them.
The Spitting Image
Then their child walks in the room and they're a spitting image of the one that you're missing. As soon as you see them, you can't believe it. It's like, oh my goodness. Their demeanor is just like them. They act like them. They look just like them. It's like, oh, this is amazing. It feels like they just walked in the room.
The Question This Raises
Our Verse of the Day today is 1 John chapter 4, verse 12. It says, "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us."
This verse begs the question: when we get together, are we expecting to see God? Also, are we representing God to each other?
This is something that I've really had to struggle with, even just preparing for this. What does it mean when we really think about "God lives in us"? I know we talk a lot about it. "The Spirit of God lives in us. We're the temple of the Holy Ghost." But really, what does that translate to when we consider that God lives in us?
We Should Reflect God
Something that I've said many times: we should reflect God. We talk about Moses coming down from the mountain. He was in the presence of God, so he was reflecting God from his face and the glory of God.
Get this—this isn't just a mirror. This isn't just reflecting. That gives the impression from the outside reflecting back to people. This is "God lives in us." That causes us in this verse, if we're really mindful of this, to echo what John the Baptist said.
He Must Increase, I Must Decrease
As people were talking to him about this Jesus—this new Jesus on the scene—John the Baptist said: "He must increase and I must decrease."
Goodness. I wonder if when we get together with fellow believers, if that's our cry, if that's our desire. Imagine what that could look like if we actually show up together, we spend time together and we don't see each other, but we see God's presence in us.
When you walk in the room, do people see the resemblance of God in you? It's like, oh goodness, I've never seen God. But as soon as you walk in the room, oh, I see the resemblance. It's a special, amazing thing that we get to share with one another.
The Concert Illustration
Another illustration is this: imagine if you show up to a concert and you get tickets and you go to this concert because you want to see this main headliner. You're so excited. It's either a musician or a band and you're so excited.
Out comes, of course, the opening band that plays first, or the musician, and they're playing and playing and playing and continuing to play, and you keep looking at your watch. Everyone's starting to get antsy. It's like, but we came to see this main headliner. When are they going to show up?
Imagine if they just come out, play one song and then leave. Imagine how everyone would feel. Or worse yet, they never show up.
Gather Expecting to See God
Imagine if we have the expectation and intention that when we get together, it is actually to see God—that it's not just to see each other. Yes, we care about each other. We love one another. But we are actually constantly living in a place of surrender, allowing God in us to truly take control of us so that when people interact with us, they see God.
A Challenge
I would just encourage you to take some time and sit down and just write out what attributes of God you understand God to be. Take some time and genuinely reflect: Are you revealing that? Are you demonstrating that to others? What would it take to do that?
Then, truly, we can say: "No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us, so that we can see God in one another as He lives His expression of love through us."
