Who is Jesus to us?
Some see him as the lightning in the clouds that burns away the deadwood, or as the raging river that washes the tumbled rocks clean. To others he’s a money vault that opens to us when we offer him praise.
We call him our chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15), the Head of the church (Eph. 1:22), the Holy One (Acts 3:4), our Judge (2 Tim. 4:8), the Light of the world (John 8:12), the Prince of peace (Is. 9:6), our Deliverer (Ro. 11:26), and many more. The names are exciting and uplifting, and we find strength through them.
Still, are we offering Jesus the right kind of worship? We know the story of the 5,000, and the loaves and the fishes, but do we know what happened just afterward? The men there believed, truly believed in the miracle performed that day, and yet, they still didn’t understand.
Jesus’ miracle wasn’t about riches, power, and fame. It was about suffering people, and about the heart.
John 6:15 tells us:
“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”
These men didn’t doubt Jesus. They believed, but for the wrong reasons. Jesus didn’t need to be king of this world. He desired to be king of their hearts. When he saw that they desired the wrong thing, he departed from them to be alone.
How does God see our prayers? Are we always asking, asking, asking? Is Jesus our cornucopia of good things? Or are we content to worship, worship, worship? Do we love God simply because he rescued us from the grief of a life lived in sin?
Jesus does for us because he loves us, and he looks for our gratitude to flow back unto him.
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