Still More to Discover

"…we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23, NIV)

People who have been married forty or fifty years sometimes say they are still learning new things about each other. At first, that sounds surprising. After so many years together, what could possibly be left to discover? Then you realize they aren't talking about learning new facts. They're talking about the quiet discoveries that only come from sharing life together. The relationship hasn't stayed where it began because life together never stands still.

The evening before His crucifixion, Jesus shared one last meal with the disciples who had followed Him for three years. They knew His voice. They had watched Him teach, heal, pray, and love people. Yet during that meal Jesus quietly said, "…I too will love them and show myself to them" (John 14:21, NIV). These were not people meeting Jesus for the first time. They had walked with Him for three years. That's what makes His words so surprising. Jesus wasn't talking about how life with Him begins. He was talking about how it continues. Then He carried the promise even further: "…My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (John 14:23, NIV).

Remember who was sitting around that table. "…I too will love them and show myself to them." Was Jesus promising that those who already knew Him still had more to discover? If that was true after three years beside Him, it is true for us. Our first days with Jesus were never meant to contain everything we would know of Him. We are still being invited further into the life He shares with us. Years later John looked back and wrote, "We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands" (1 John 2:3, NIV). Then Jesus added, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you... apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5, NIV). Perhaps "remain" is the word that ties it all together. The relationship has already begun. Jesus invites us to continue living in it.

If so, ordinary days look different. He also said, "My sheep listen to my voice... and they follow me" (John 10:27, NIV). Following is more than remembering where we first met Him. It is recognizing His voice as life unfolds. Sometimes His voice leads us toward a response we would rather avoid. Those moments rarely change only the situation. They slowly change us. Maybe that is why the years with Jesus were never meant to become familiar in the sense of becoming ordinary. They were meant to become familiar in the way a lifelong friendship grows richer with time. Every day becomes another invitation to notice where He is leading us and to discover that He is giving more of Himself than we had seen.

Perhaps that is what the disciples needed to hear before everything changed. Their life with Jesus was about to change in ways they could not yet imagine, but His promise meant they would not enter any of it alone. Neither do we. Could it be that the richest years of knowing Him are not behind us but still to come? The promise spoken around that table still belongs in the ordinary days ahead of us. Tomorrow is not simply another day to remember where our life with Jesus began. It is another day to continue walking with the One who is still revealing Himself. "My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (John 14:23, NIV).

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You that knowing You is not a moment left behind but a life that keeps unfolding. Teach me to remain close, recognize Your voice, and gladly follow wherever You lead today. Amen.