1 John 1:1-2 --- We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.
Today in my quiet time I spent time with the Lord in 1 John 1. It was a simple peaceful time resting and being in verses 1-2. There was a ton packed into these 2 verses but today really zoned in on John's senses.
Much like Peter in 2 Peter 1:16-17, John starts things off by making clear he's not retelling some story he heard from a friend of a friend, but that he saw Jesus with his own eyes. He walked with Him. He touched Him. He lived life with Him.
Two words jumped out at me today in verse 1, "seen" and "saw". To us modern 21st century English speaking folks seen, and saw are basically the same thing. They are the past tense of "see". I see a dog running. I saw a dog running. I've seen a dog running.
Okay I hear you out there... "Oh heavens Phillip why oh why the English lesson at 6:30am.. just no..." LOL.
The reason is because in the original Greek there are two different words used here and they mean something different.
"Seen" in the Greek is horaō which means "to see with the eyes". Okay pretty simple.
"Saw" in the Greek is theaomai which means "to look closely at, to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate".
I instantly just had this image in my mind of two pairs of eyes. One very boxy and robot looking and the other human and alive. The same colors flowed past both their eyes yet only one pair saw the flowing deep richness of colors. The other saw dull greyed out lines that simply went past.
Jesus was always saying, "Those who have ears let them hear." Well it's the same with eyes. You can have your eyes open, you can see something or someone without really "seeing" them.
Oh, how heartbreaking it is that many times in our lives the people around us, the beautiful things God does for us and around us are just "seen" and not "SEEN".
Honestly what the Lord showed me in this today was the main difference is time. Choosing to slow down and inspect, behold, contemplate, look upon instead of just simply seeing and then moving on.
Besides sharing the Good News of Jesus, the single greatest thing you can ever give another human being is your time. It's the only thing you have that you can never, ever get back. It's the single most precious commodity you will ever possess in your time on this Earth.
It's a choice. Only you can choose what/who you will simply see and what/who you will slow down, give away your most precious belonging "time" to and behold, look upon, contemplate, look closely at.
Do you see Jesus? Do you see your wife or husband? Do you see your children? Do you see your parents? Do you see your neighbor? Do you see the lost and hurting?
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