He moved into the neighbourhood
Tuesday, December 05, 2017Do you know about Jesus? Or do you know Jesus?
We talk about it a lot. Because it's important.
Knowing about Jesus is good.
But is that all that matters?
"The Word became flesh and blood
and moved into the neighbourhood." John 1:14 MSG
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| Photo by Daniel Watson on Unsplash |
One where we chat on the street, borrow eggs and babysit each others kids; where we pop in when we need a friend and drop around brownies cause we know they're needed; where we celebrate together and cry together; where we own one lawn mower between us, so we can all share, intentionally throw a ball over the fence to join in games, and put extra meat on the bbq because we know someone will come around when they smell it cooking.
Yep, Jesus came to move into a neighbourhood – the hood.
But our neighbourhood is a little more like this:
We drive our cars into our garages, close our doors and go inside. We water our gardens and hang our washing, hiding behind our fences. We walk our dogs with our headphones in and mow our nature strips exactly to the boundary line. We do have a Facebook group, where we impersonally communicate rather than knocking on each others doors.
I think a neighbourhood is meant to be a little more personal than ours.
Jesus moved into the neighbourhood, made his home among us, came to earth, was born as a human so that we could get to know him. Not just to learn about him but have conversation, share stories, open our hearts, lean in.
But he took it a step further, as he does, and has offered his Spirit into our hearts: to breathe within us.
Jesus came, and has returned to the Father, but he has not left us alone.
He was God with us
when he was born in a manger.
And he still is with us
when we allow him into our hearts.
You need Jesus.
Not to know about Jesus.
But to have Jesus, to experience Jesus, to know Jesus.
The invitation is open. Will you allow him into your 'hood?
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