Well, welcome again to another podcast of Struggling Well. We're glad that you've joined us this week, and we trust that this will be something that you'll be able to think about and ponder throughout the week. So, Susan, I'm going to turn to you.
Well, thanks, Jimmy. I haven't got a clue as to what I'm going to say. No, I bet I'm kidding. where we are recording, it is a beautiful day. And on beautiful days, wait, here comes a big sneeze. Oo, sorry.
It's a good way to start the podcast.
Well, you know, it's we're natural, normal people and those kind of things happen. So anyway, it's a beautiful day out and on beautiful days it's easy to be thankful for everything and but it doesn't take much does it to get us offkilter. But one of the things that I've been kind of wrestling with actually came from a book that I had been reading and it was in response to a character development about this particular person in this book. And the more I thought about it and as I read it, I thought this really does apply to how I look at Jesus. So, just let me share it with you. I'm not trying to take something that's worldly and make it spiritual, but I think the principle is true. And that is this. Well, often times we think of Jesus in one dimension. Like if you're in need, you're the dimension you're thinking about him in is I need help. if you are needing something from him, you think of him in whatever dimension. like he looks like a certain thing to you. And when we are studying the word, we need to look at more than just the words on the page. We need to do a deeper dive. And I'm not suggesting that you all, you know, become theologians and but I am suggesting this that when you study the word of God, when you're having your quiet time, hopefully you're having one, even when you're hearing a message from your pastor, I hope you're going to church. I think it's important in these days in particular, but that you look at the scope of who Jesus is that you look at the passage trying to understand the context. And this is a great word, the terrain that surrounds Jesus. Who are the people that are in his world? How does he interact with them? What's the context? What's the culture like? And while we're not in the same culture as Jesus was, in his time on earth. There are things about humanity that are the same. It doesn't matter when you were born. God gave us a heart, yearnings, a desire for himself. All those things are the same. But we need to look at who how he prayed. What did he pray for? How did what did he say about himself? h how did he relate to the other religious leaders? What did he say to the disciples? What did he promise? promise. So that when I come to the word, there's more of an excitement and anticipation to find out who he is, who he was, and how he acts. I need to know more about him, to understand me. And I think the context and the culture and all those things help us to see how he interacted with other people. That gives me a clue, I believe, as to how he's going to interact with me. I just think it gives us a fuller picture of who he is. And, for many years, I'm a very slow learner and slow processor. Just a little aside, I should have gone to college now. because when I went to college, I don't even know what I learned or why I went. and for most of us, well, not most of us, people like me, I'm very slow learner and very slow processor. But I find myself now wanting more. I want to go deeper. I want to know God in his fullness and I don't even quite understand that. But there are places in scripture that speak to that. And Jimmy, you've been looking at Ephesians. So
yeah,
you're looking at me with that look again like, "Oh my gosh, if you all could see the look he has on his face,
waiting for you to take a breath so I can jump in."
You know, I've got great breath control.
Yes, I do.
I could speak for days.
You could. yeah. So, to me, it's this. I see it this way, Suz. And as I listen to what you're saying, I don't ever want to stop learning. there's dimension to my walk with Christ and I don't want to ever stop learning and in that sense put flesh on the bones and Paul in Ephesians as he's talking about the abundance of what we have in Christ says this in the third chapter that so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. So as he gives those dimensional things the length the breadth the height the depth there is dimension to the love of Christ
and I think sometimes we think okay I know all there is to know about Jesus well no we don't and so Paul wants us to be able to understand that there's dimension to his love for example and it's not just it's easy to say that Jesus loves me but to understand that there is dimension to that. And in his letter, his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul said this to them, I came to you not proclaiming to you anything other than the love of Christ and him crucified. And so for Paul, it was always centered on that. And it's like, I don't ever want to get beyond understanding who Jesus is. And we live in a culture where education And learning is many times tied to formal learning, formal education. And so we get to a certain point and we're done and we go on with our lives. And the truth of the matter is we're never done with learning about Christ and who he is. And so I would agree there. I want him and who he is to me to have depth, to have breadth, to have height, all the things that he prays in Ephesians about the love of Christ. And I think that the only way that you can get there and again, not as a destination, but begin to understand those things is you've got to read the word. You've got to be in there and reading what he says about himself. And like I said earlier, where he is, how he interacts, those things are really important. You know, when you're getting to know somebody, you know, let's say you have a new friend or some you're dating or whatever. in order to do to understand who they are, you've got to spend time with them. And that's, you know, we hear that all the time. We got to spend time with Jesus. Absolutely. But if we're not in the word and we're not reading all the things around him and about him, how he communicated with other people, what it was like for him when he prayed, when he was in the garden, if we're not reading those and looking for the depth and breadth and width of who he is, then he will just be like a stick figure on a piece of paper.
Yeah. And again, I think that we don't want to treat the Bible like a textbook. you know, I think back to the years decades ago now that I was in college and when I was done with a class and the textbook wasn't going to be used again, I sold it. Well, the Bible's not a textbook. It's God's communication to us about who he is and how he wants us to respond to him. And so, I don't want to treat it in the in a manner. It's not a history book. It's not a science book. It's not any of those things. It's God's talking to you and to me. And so when I come to his word and I see it that way, then I then I'm there to learn about who he is and what he wants for me and how he wants me to respond to him. And so, yeah, take on the depth. Take on make it more make it more than just a one dimension. I know when we've had the privilege of going to the Holy Land. And people have said when you go to the Holy Land, the Bible becomes a popup book, like a little kids book where the pages pop up because there's something you see more to the land, to the geography and everything else. Well, I want there to be depth. I want there to be Jesus coming off the pages of God's word when I see who he is and how much he offers to you and me in our relationship.
So, what do you want us to struggle with this week?
I want us I want people to struggle to sit with the whole idea of who Jesus is and never be content with what you think you know about him. Always learn more.
Thanks so much for listening.