Briefing: Who knows you better than anyone? Is it a parent, spouse, or close friend? Have you ever found anyone who knew the real you?

Dispatch (Assignment): Read John 1:43-51.

On the Street: Unlike the previous chapter where we discussed the need to know Jesus, here we see that Jesus already knows us. Would you be surprised if someone you had never met before walked up to you and began telling you about yourself? As law enforcement officers, we would immediately become suspicious of that person and probably get defensive.

In this passage, we see Jesus approach Nathanael. Jesus and Nathanael had never met but Jesus characterizes Nathanael in a way that immediately grabbed Nathanael’s attention. Jesus knew just what to say that would express to Nathanael that He knew some deep intimate details of his life. Upon hearing this Nathanael did not ask, “Who told you that?” but asked, “How do you know me?” It was a convincing enough detail that Nathanael believed the sincerity of Jesus’ comment.

Jesus knows us like He knew Nathanael. He could walk up to any one of us right now and ask us a question that would let us know He knows us beyond any doubt. Jesus knows everything about us, even our darkest secrets. He knows what makes us smile, what kind of ice cream we like and even what we will dream about tonight. He knows things about us that we don’t even know. He knows when and how we are going to die, the last person we will talk to, and what the last thought is that goes through our mind.

This may sound like a strange question but have you ever doubted that Jesus loves you? Have you ever done something and thought, “How can He ever love me after all the junk I’ve done?” Know this: He already knew what you and I would do on our worst days and in our darkest moments. He has always known the things that we consider most disappointing in our lives.

If Jesus knows all my junk, and He does, and He still wants to be in relationship with me, I am absolutely sure His love for me will never leave. I don’t begin to understand it but that is part of me being human and Jesus being God. Somehow He understands it and it all makes perfect sense to Him.

Investigational Resources: For more on God’s love for us, see 1 John 4:7-21.

Officer Safety Principle: Sleep in peace tonight knowing that there is nothing you can do to make God stop loving you.

from The Gospel of John Through the Eyes of a Cop
©by Charles Gilliland. Used by permission.
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