Hidden in Plain Sight
Sunday, October 6th 2024 (week 82)
Galatians 5:22-23
Why is it that there always seems to be something we can’t find? We know it’s there but no matter how hard we look we just can’t find it. It’s like those “Spot the Difference” picture competitions where two supposedly identical pictures are shown but one of them has a number of different aspects than the other.
We have a drawer in our kitchen where my wife puts all sorts of things. There are batteries, recipes she’s torn out of magazines, instructions for appliances, tape measures, and a host of other things rarely needed. Whenever I want something that’s in this drawer I can’t find it. Needles and haystacks come to mind.
I was unable to find our favourite Chinese takeaway menu and I was rummaging through the drawer and muttering under my breath when my wife appeared behind me, leaned in and reached into the drawer, pulled out the menu and said, “It was there all the time. You just didn’t look….as usual”. The takeaway menu was there, hidden in plain sight.
Few of us know the Bible as well as we might like to. It provides all the help and advice we need to live fruitful lives, but if we don’t know where to find an appropriate verse it can also be a bit like that haystack!
If you have ever wanted to gaze upon the face of Jesus, you may have had a similar experience. The oldest known picture of Jesus is a graffito drawn on a wall in Rome in around 200 AD. Today, however, there are lots of depictions of Jesus but the reality is that we still don’t truly know what he looked like.
Fortunately, God didn’t intend for us to be without help and that’s why He gave us the Bible. It provides instruction for our everyday lives and will, if we choose to follow it, make us wise and discerning so that we can live the way God intended; happy, contented and blessed.
In it, hidden in plain sight is a clear and reliable image of what Jesus really looks like. You can find it in Galatians 5 where the apostle Paul outlines the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The next time you’re seeking the face of our Lord Jesus Christ try to imagine all those qualities and you won’t be disappointed because you will have a very clear picture of what He looks like.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the Bible, so that we need have no doubts about anything and we can see a clear picture of you and your Son, Jesus.
Neil Bromage, 06/10/2024