And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Have you ever noticed that the closer you get to Jesus the more you are drawn to Him? And the more you know about Him the more you come to appreciate, love and become like Him?
It's true! It's just like how iron filings are drawn to a magnet. The closer the filings get the more they are attracted to the magnet, but they are also attracted to each other because the closer a filing gets to the magnet the more like the magnet it becomes, and the more influence it has on others.
Just like those steel filings, the closer we get to Jesus, the more like Him we become, and the more attractive we become, and together we will continue to get closer and closer to Jesus. As we become more attractive to others our influence as a group (a church) becomes even greater and we can do more "good" for Jesus. (Just remember that it's the power of Jesus that makes us attractive. We certainly have no attractiveness in and of ourselves.)
Some filings can be seen to "resist" by clinging to their current surroundings (much like people cling to things around them), but they are still being drawn. If they "let go" they will come closer to the magnet. Again, this is just like people. We cannot get closer to Jesus unless we let go of the things of this world. We must allow Him to draw us to Himself.
So where can you and I get information that will tell us more about Jesus and who He is so that we can become more like Him? Can we find information at a zoo, or at a library, or out in nature? Will we find the most information reading really good, factual Christian books, or do we have to read only our Bibles? If you want to know the truth about a subject you have to go to the source, right? The Bible is full of facts about our God, but so is nature. We can learn a great deal about who the Creator is by looking at what He has created, how it's made and why it's here. And in so doing we will be drawn to Him.
For example, take a look at iridescent light (light that seems to change colors when viewed from different angles), and see what can be learned about the Creator. First, we need to recall that light is composed of all the colors of the rainbow, and we need to remember that what we see is only what is reflected back to us.
The brilliant blue color of the Blue Morpho butterfly for example, is blue because it is the only color not absorbed by the wings. All we see is blue reflected light. Interestingly, this brilliant blue color is not from the color of the wings. Another interesting thing is, this light is not just reflected, but its intensity is actually magnified.
The wings of all butterflies are covered with very small scales, and in the case of the Blue Morpho these scales are designed out of almost colorless translucent material. Light hitting these scales reflects off and travels through this material in such a way that the light actually gets brighter. It's a lot like light hitting several mirrors that are aimed to reflect light back to a specific point making that point brighter. And this light is not only brighter, but it's also filtered in such a way that all we see is blue. Brilliant blue! (See this in a very short video. Click here.)
Just one of the things we can learn from this amazing creature is that God cares about the things we look at. He could have made this butterfly as colorless as some of the other insects He has made, but He did this for us, to make us happy. This tells us that God loves us, and that He loves beauty just as much as we do. It kind of draws you a little closer to Him doesn’t it? It makes you appreciate His wisdom, thoughtfulness, and skill.
We have been told to go to the lowly ant, to consider the fig tree, the mustard seed, seeds sown in different places, about light for our path, light in our houses, wind in the trees and rain, just to mention a few. Why? All of these illustrations have been given to us just to help us understand Him a little better.
Even though the Bible is a collection of letters from God and contains all we need to know about Him, and the salvation He has provided, it does NOT contain all there is to know about Him. God is way beyond the ability for us to understand everything about Him, yet He has given us so much that we CAN know. The more we learn about our Creator the more we will be drawn to His goodness.
If you have already asked God into your heart and have accepted His Son, Jesus, please don't stop learning about Them.
Jesus continues to draw you to Himself.
Let go and get closer to Him!
