The Jesus in Me Sees the Jesus in You

I fondly remember the little chorus we sang at my first National Youth Conference experience. "The Jesus in me sees the Jesus in you" was repeated several times. This concept isn't very foreign to most Christians, the fact that Jesus can and does work through people. But when we are praising and thanking the Lord for the good He has done for us, we often forget the blessings of interactions with other Christians, we forget to credit that to the Lord.

Brad was talking to a friend recently who said she saw "some higher being" in nature and other such things, and he reminded her that God also works through people, through friendships and words and fellowship. It's surprising how we may so easily thank God for the rain, but forget to thank him for patient Bible study participants who forgive Shaya's barking or an encouraging word from a friend to find time for a daily quiet time even in the midst of a hectic semester.

Do Not Put Your Trust in People

² I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.

⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

9The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. (Psalm 146: 2-4, 9)

Psalm 146 is very helpful here in centering our understanding of the place God has in such blessings that may come through people. It is very clear that we are to praise the Lord, and we should not trust in mortal men. Their plans turn to nothing. But our God is forever and enduring and without end. We can trust that He will be there for us no matter what.

However, later on in the Psalm (verse 9), we see that the Lord watches over the alien, the fatherless. Now, we do understand that God is looking after the alien and fatherless in an abstract sense through the work of the counselor in a spiritual guiding sense. However, many of us have probably seen this verse through the Holy Spirit working in "mortal men" or people here on earth. Many Christians help with refugee organizations in order to help the alien and others work with organizations like COBYS (Church of the Brethren Youth Services), taking children into a foster care home. In fact, it's quite ironic that this was my reading today, since Brad and I were just recently talking about adopting... since there are so many children in need of a good home. Yet, we will pray about this, and just like those Christians who work with other ministries, we will ask that the Lord guide us in this decision. For we are to praise God for all the good works that He does. For, we are not the ones that can do this, but it is His Spirit working through us that leads us to fulfill His will. Doesn't it make sense, after all, that the God who created us could work through us? And when He does, we will "praise the Lord all [our] li[ves], sing praises to Him for as long as [we] shall live", for we trust in Him.

But Praise Him for Working Through Them

⁹For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. (1 Cor. 15:9-11)

This portion of 1 Cor. is quite interesting, in its placement as well as its content. It is while Paul is reminding the church of the gospel message and directing them to believe and reaffirm that it really happened. Yet, he states humbly that all that he has done was not from his power, but that of God. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect." During our retreat yesterday, I shared a bit of my story. I have been a Christian all my life, but there was a time when I did not feel as close to God, when I was struggling with an eating disorder. It affected my personal life, my spiritual life, all aspects of my life really... but then I recognized that "God is bigger than an eating disorder." And I began to pray, for many months. It was not a sudden or quick change, but I eventually began to feel God pulling me up. And I know that it is by His grace that I am what I am today.

The other part of what Paul says that I find quite inspiring is that Paul allows it to be complicated. It's not all God; it's not all him. Paul says, "No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." Instead of quantifying: this much God, this much Paul, he just leaves it as a mystery... which it is. It requires some effort on our part. For instance, adopting a child is not without its difficulties and complications and hard work. Money, time, legal issues and public opinion are among the issues at stake. And it requires just as much hard work as raising children, which also requires God's guidance and love. We cannot be Godly parents (adoptive or otherwise) without the grace of God working within us... and I thank God for the parents that I had.

But it's not just the big things... we can praise the Lord for words of encouragement from friends or students as well as blessings of new friendship that build us up and strengthen our walk with the Lord. But seeing the Jesus in each one of us allows us to thank God for all the blessings we receive from our community of believers.