The Hidden Christ
John 1:26 John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water: but there stands one amongst you, that you do not know
Great men I heard this recently “The anointing of God will get
you there, but character will keep you there” and Jesus says
Matt
20:16 for many are called, but few are chosen.
In other
words people can be endued with wonderful gifts and incredible revelation into Gods
heart, but unless they allow there character to be shaped and developed by the
Holy Spirit they will never attain the potential that they have. It’s like
having a bucket with holes in, without the sufficient character we will
squander our talents and by the time we get the bucket to the masters table it
will be dry.
I was
watching a program about gifted people who could see numbers and calculate
faster than the most powerful calculator. They could memorize incredible facts
and be able to tell you the day, the weather the time etc of certain events.
But they all
had one thing in common, and that was their social skills and the development
of their character was insufficient to be able to use the gift they had been
given to its full ability.
I have even heard
people say “I don’t want this gift “because they knew that their character
needed to change enormously to be able to use it.
With great
power comes great responsibility and the demand to allow our characters to be
built on the firm foundation and mind of Jesus Christ is paramount. There is no
other role model or teacher who is able, because the character we need can only
be developed through the working out of our salvation.
Phi 2:12
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my
presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.
Today there are great men amongst us whom we do not know. In their ways
and character there is a straightness that stands out, there is no hidden
agenda or motive only an openness and transparency that some how lifts our hearts.
We see an outline and subtle evidence of greatness surrounding their life, but it’s
only when we look more closely do we see the finger marks of the potter on the
character of their lives.
Jesus is the greatest of men, and in his time these marks identified him
above all others. But today he is still continually moving in the world through
the acting of His gracious Spirit and the intimacy of his presence. There is an
unrecognized Christ in every age. And there is an unregarded person in all
history. There is a spiritual Power moving in the world, though (like the wind)
men know not whence it cometh.
"There stands one amongst you that you do not know”
Unrecognized in our towns and cities In our towns and cities there are hidden footprints.
Think of a Roman Centurion from Jesus day, if he were to travel forward in time
and move through the streets of our cities. He would probably recognize and feel
comfortable with our shops and markets, he may gasp at our technology and their
scale but he could say "We had all these in my time in ancient
Because it was the unseen spirit of Christ that raised that hospital, it
was hand of love that built the orphanage, it was his voice that called that
soul to love and care for the sick. But how often do we consider the love of
God, how often we count our blessings.
Do we ever ponder on where we would be without Jesus, what sort of world
we would now be part of? The old
Centurion could tell us I am sure.
In every city town and village of our world today, as by the banks of
Unrecognized in our ways Let’s think again about how our ways have been touched
by this unseen presence in our world. How about the crime scene of some violent
act, where the perpetrator is perhaps lying with his life ebbing out of him
because in his crime he too was injured. When the paramedic attends the scene does
he consider the justice or injustice of the situation or is there something
hidden in his ways that makes him fight for the life of a murderer. After all
why should he save it? Why should he preserve something that seems totally
rotten? Would it not be better to let that man die and do the world a favor? But
there is something unseen that declares the most worthless life is infinitely
precious. The paramedic certainly did not get it from training or science or
from nature or from evolution and when we see him with his sleeves rolled up
fighting desperately for that life, I believe we are seeing the hidden Christ.
Whenever a man does anything true and tender, when the fireman enters the
flames to save a child he does not even know, when the common sailor flings
himself overboard to rescue someone who is bent on suicide, "there stands
one amongst us whom we do not know "
Hidden in our livesIn our lives today, much has changed and many
poverties that infested our society are no longer prevalent. Once the poor were
content to live in desperate conditions, now they are not content. Once many were
content with low wages, now they are not. Once there was a contentment and expectation
that little children would remain untaught and have their playground in the
gutter; but thank God these things are intolerable now. But what lies at the
back of that unrest that forced the change? I believe it is the dawning sense
that the poorest and the humblest have equal value with the richest in our land.
But from where did that sense come?
Never could it spring from Hells darkness where self is the king, it did
not come from Satan as he has nothing to do with freedom or liberty. But it sprang
from the heart of the Carpenter of Nazareth. Put leaven in the meal and it
ferments. Put the
“There stands one amongst us we do not know"
Saviour of the world Lastly the problems of our world, that seem to become
more agonizing with the passing years. National hatreds that still simmer, national jealousies that were never more
bitter and national memories that still flare at the catastrophic acts of war. To
some it looks like the only power abroad is that of the prince of the powers of
the air, but then comes the wiser thought. What of the growing movements for
disarmament and peace? What of the slowly altering attitude between the races? What
of the cry for the saving of our environment for the generations to come.
Has the prince of the powers of the air created these? Never, as his
heart is only set on the destruction and death of Gods creation, and though he
fights with every foul wile for dominion there is someone moving in our world whom
he knows well, though we recognize Him not. He is the one who does not strive
nor lift up His voice in the streets. Evil is always clamorous and strident. But
he comes with the fragrance of heaven and as the radiant bright and morning
star. So do I feel through all our great world problems, which would sometimes
chill my heart, that "there stands one amongst us whom we do not know “