“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” (John 14:9, NIV)
Some years ago, Links Players president Jeffrey Cranford and I got to wondering about things we could not see. Jeffrey has been an outstanding golfer since he began competing as a junior, playing on the mini-tours and even earning a few starts on the PGA Tour. When you come that close to your dream, it’s natural to wonder what might be keeping you from landing a spot among the elite. And that’s where we questioned the invisible. Namely, we asked whether perhaps Jeff’s body did not work in the same way that the top players did—specifically, could his forearms rotate in the same way theirs did?
Now comes Jason Day, who revealed last year that the back problems that have so often stalled his dominant play aren’t about his back at all. What the experts have found, with all their new evaluative capabilities, is that Day’s ribs aren’t quite right. They’re out of line. And the rehab they have given him for this condition is to blow up balloons. I’m not kidding. (You can read it for yourself.)
I have known some to be truly embarrassed because of what they do not know. But embarrassment rests close to humility.Many times in recent years, as doctors have taken pictures of my body and established plans for attacking the cancer in me—including the immunotherapy treatments that have made a life-saving difference for so many—I have marveled about God’s creative existence not only in the vast reaches of space and the massive fiery bodies that occupy the galaxies, but in the microscopic entities that both make up and attack my body. The world within us may be contained in our rather small human frames, but it remains beyond our full comprehension because of its endless intricacies.
The truth in all of life is that we, like Philip, have much to learn. A Galilean and thus likely a fisherman like Peter and Andrew, Philip was excited about Jesus from the day they met. Jesus called Philip to follow him, and Philip encouraged Nathanael to do the same.
But for all his hanging around Jesus, walking with the Lord almost daily for three years, Philip had gaps in his knowledge. Big ones. When we come to John 14, he was asking Jesus if the Lord would please reveal the Father to them. Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me by now, Philip?” Then he went on to say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
You may often think to yourself that your knowledge of Jesus is so limited. Your church background didn’t have much Bible teaching in it, or your career emphasis kept you from the quiet times with God that would have strengthened your knowledge. I have known some to be truly embarrassed because of what they do not know. But embarrassment rests close to humility, and the latter is all we need to see that we can gain what Philip did that day: more knowledge, “even after such a long time.”
Do you have much to learn? I know I still do, and I have believed in Jesus for more than 50 years now. If our bodies are inexhaustible in what scientists have to learn about them, imagine how far-reaching the nature and works of God go. It’s never too late to learn a little more about him.
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Jeff Hopper
February 11, 2020
Copyright 2020 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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