It’s obvious that a huge part of following Jesus is knowing Him, and knowing God. But what does that mean? We’ve all heard people talk about “knowing the lord” and things like that, but you don’t ever really get a picture of what that really looks like, or what God even looks like for that matter. For a lot of people, when they picture God, they picture a bearded old dude sitting on clouds somewhere up in the sky far, far away from us and our daily lives. But, does that really match up with the God we see revealed through Jesus? I don’t think so. In 1 Corinthians Paul talks about this a bit. He talks about how we’re all “God’s temple” and that He’s in and with all of us. The phrase “being God’s temple” might now make a lot of sense, but really what it means is that wherever you are, God is also, because He’s in you. That’s a really different perspective then that old dude in the clouds. And that different perspective changes a lot of other things. If God was just sitting up in space somewhere and not actually in us and a part of our lives, it means we’re separated from Him. But I don’t think thats the case, even Paul talks about nothing being able to separate us from Him, not height or depth, death or life, our fears or worries. None of that changes the fact that He’s is in you. You don’t have to work to try and get his attention, or strive to get near Him, you already have his attention and He’s already with you, closer than anyone else could ever be. And nothing changes that fact. Regardless of your age, gender, sexuality, race or religion, He’s with you, and that should be the foundation of your identity. When you look in the mirror and see yourself staring back, you’re also seeing God from within you staring back. And not only that, but when you see other people, you’re not just seeing them, you’re seeing the very image of God walking and moving around. He’s in them the same way He’s in you, they’re in His image the same way you are, even if they don’t see or acknowledge it. That’s why Jesus said “Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me”. When people harm, exclude, discriminate or put down other people, they’re doing the very same things to God. Which can be a really hard thing to wrap our minds around or try to walk out in life. We aren’t perfect, and that’s okay, Father isn’t expecting perfection. But we should all do our best to see God in ourselves, and in the people around us. That’s when we’ll be able to love and care the way Jesus loved and cared. “We know God because we know each other” Jackie Lewis