God Walked In

“So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first...
Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed...
Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’” (John 20:3-4,8,16 NIV 2011).

I had just met Margaret one week ago, middle-aged with an advanced and marginally curable liver tumor. She was here for her second visit.
When we had finished our medical business, she surprised me a bit, “You look like you’re a Christian.”
“I am,” I smiled.
“I need to tell you this,” she continued. “When I was talking to my surgeon last week, I know that God walked into the room and said to me, ‘This is your miracle.’ He was just as real to me as you are now.”

Can we really see God in the middle of important things?
How do some people just know He is present?
How could my patient see the Lord so clearly in her exam room?
Why do I not see Him more often in mine?
What does it take to see the risen Christ in our normal life each day? Is He here?
Of course He is.

When I look at those who see God readily, those who know from the depths of their being that He is present, I notice certain things about their lives:
They live their lives
Loving Jesus--
Seeking Jesus---
Knowing Jesus---, and
Obeying Jesus

It was the disciple who loved Jesus most who first knew He was alive.
It was Mary, in seeking Him first and returning to seek Him again, who saw the risen Savior; and she then recognized His voice because she knew Him so well.
And ever since the first Easter, it has been those who obey our Lord who most readily see Him in our world. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, “Only he who sees obeys, but only he who obeys sees.”

Therefore, if I want to find the risen Christ in my world today,
Do I love Him desperately?
Am I running like John to find Him or just running?
Do I know Him well enough to recognize Him if I see Him?
Am I walking the path He has asked me to walk?

Do I want to see Jesus today?

Dear Father,
Let me see Jesus!