Who Do We Want to Meet the Most on Earth?
Hello everyone, I pray that everyone has been healthy and well in this season. As the year 2020 is reaching its end, and the season of autumn is now already here, I know that around this time most of us are looking forward to the holidays, and yearning to meet with our loved ones.
Whether it is to eat, to catch up, or just to have a good time, although we are all in a very difficult situation where we may not be able to meet and gather as normal, today I wanted to encourage everyone and share about one meeting that we can have no matter where we are and no matter what the situation we are in. This meeting is the most pleasant meeting that we can ever have in our lives.
To start off, when we think about the people who we usually want to meet, isn’t it our loved ones, or perhaps someone we really admire or deeply respect? So to our listeners, if we can meet anyone in the world right now, whether they are alive, or have passed away, whether they live in this age or a former age, who would you want to meet the most?
Let’s think about that for a second. And once you do, let’s think about why. Why do I want to meet this person so bad? Now, if you are thinking about a family member, we can all understand why because we love them, and they’re a part of us. On the other hand, if you answered a celebrity, maybe a pop singer, a favorite actor, actress, or just someone you deeply admire and respect, it can all be for the same reason that you love them, and you want to talk to them.
However, let’s say that now that you’re able to meet this person, I want us to think further. What will we do when you meet them? Some of us may be too shy to start a conversation, but some of us may be the opposite. We might run up to them right away, take some pictures, ask for some advice, stories, questions, and enjoy the time.
However, that’s the most that we can get out of that meeting right? Afterwards, that meeting just becomes a memory, or a photograph you look back to. This is true for anyone in the world. No matter who they are, the only things that they can give us are temporary joy, materials, and conversations.
The Blessing of Meeting God
Now what if I tell everyone that there is a meeting that can lead to something eternal? An encounter where you walk out with having everything? And a meeting that will bless you with life, hope and love? What kind of meeting is this? It is one with God. Yes, the most blessed meeting we could ever have in our lives is one with God.
To summarize one short reason. John 17:3 says eternal life is to know the true God and the one he has sent. Thus meeting God and getting to know him leads to eternal life.
Alright, so how does this work? Now that we want to meet God, let’s talk about how we can use the same methods which we use with people such as dialing up his number. What is God’s number? Is it your favorite number? I don’t think so. That’s too much of a coincidence.
Or what if we just shout out to God at the top of our lungs, call out his name? Will he come to us, and then sit down with us and talk to us?
If not those methods, what about one that is getting more popular nowadays, video conferencing or a messaging application perhaps? Can we use those? Will God just pop up on our screen? No, none of these methods work. How come?
The Barriers to Meeting God
First of all, God, He is not a physical entity that we can see with our own eyes. If we think we have seen God’s physical form, I want you to try to picture it right now. This picture that we have a God of His physical form, is it the same to what other depictions of him are like? Whether it is through media, or other people, and their description, when we compare ours to theirs how come it is so different from person to person, even if God is one entity?
If someone were to meet us, shouldn’t they see us the same way they saw us yesterday? I’m talking about our physical form. Yes, it could change a little bit, but shouldn’t it be similar? It’s not like one day someone meets you you’re five feet tall and the next day you’re six foot two. No, everyone gets to see the same version of us if they truly saw our physical form. If he saw us on our physical. Then wouldn’t God be the same to everyone else as well?
In fact in 1 Timothy 6:16, it says that no eye has seen God. Why? Because God is a spiritual entity. He doesn’t have a physical form. Then how can we experience God? Should it be just based on our own personal experiences? While yes we should value our experiences and find joy in them, we cannot merely base our knowledge of God on that alone. It’s incomplete.
Also, our experiences will always change. But God is not supposed to change. In Numbers 23:19, God says that unlike men, He never changes His mind, His words, His promises, or who He is. God, he is a constant God. Think about it. If you want someone to get to know who you truly are, would you want that person to go around and ask whoever they see about you? The baker down the street, the guard in town, or maybe the children playing on the street?
No, because most likely, they can only give you a vague description of you. Or even worse, a distorted description based on one experience that they’ve had with you.
What if you had a very bad experience with that bakery? What if you ordered some croissants, but you accidentally spilled coffee all over her and all over her bakery? Do you think that she would share something very, very nice about you? There’s a slight chance. But still, it’s going to be a very vague, incomplete description.
You are more than just a person who spills coffee over people. You have thoughts, you have dreams, you have desires. You have ambitions and feelings. And those who know all of these things, they’re those who truly know who you are.
In the same way, if we say we have met or experienced God in our lives, can we really say that we know His heart and His will? His desires and His plans?
The Best Way to Meet with the Lord
What is God doing right now? What is he thinking about right now? We have to know these things. That is why today, I want us to all take the courage to seek God and meet him directly. Just like how the best way to know who you are is to talk to you, in order to meet God, let’s meet him directly through His words. Why do we have to meet God through His words? Because again, he is a spiritual entity.
But what did God do in Amos 3:17? He chose to reveal himself and his thoughts to his servants the prophets. And where are the words of the prophets found today? It’s in the Bible, the holy book that we can easily access and only for ourselves.
In John 1:1-4 it makes it even clearer. Here, God describes himself to be like His word. This doesn’t mean that literally this book is God. But this book, the Bible, contains God’s heart, His plans, His will, and His heart. How do we know?
All of us have written a letter to someone before, right? What do you place in that letter? You place your thoughts, your heart, and your purpose in that letter. When the recipient receives the letter, although they cannot see you, even if you’re far away in a different country, it’s as if they are talking to you and getting to know you. Why? Because they’re able to see your words, your thoughts and purpose behind those words.
That’s why for us to hear God’s thoughts, His will and purpose, we have to give an ear to hear His words out. To hear God not based on what people say, or share with us, but based on what He Himself says through His words. But what makes a true meeting? What makes a successful meeting? A successful meeting is where both sides have an open heart, and they are able to talk and communicate.
How to Make your Meeting with God Successful
If we ever experienced this kind of meeting where we just meet up with someone, an old friend, but all we did was eat, and not a single word was spoken, can we really look back and say “Wow, that was a very successful meeting”? No. Why? Because a true meaning is one where you could get to know the other person and share heart to heart.
So that now that we want to meet God through His Word, it’s not just flipping through our Bibles, and not understanding, but to actually have a conversation, to learn his thoughts and his words behind all of these verses, and all these pages too.
Thus, I encourage everyone today to seek after having a true meeting with God. Let’s open up our hearts, open up our Bibles and learn. By us getting into this habit of meeting God, we are storing up eternal blessings. So this most blessed meeting that leads to eternal life, let’s all schedule that today.