"God, I Want to See Jesus"

Hosanna is three years old which means that when she prays it usually vacillates between being totally adorable and slightly heretical. The reason for this is that three year olds experience the freedom of dependency where they are not afraid to ask God for anything and everything. But they make these requests as they process life through a three year old's yet-to-be-fully-formed theological grid. The end result is precious moments for her parents and at the same time theology that you really hope not to hear preached on Sunday mornings!

But more often than not Hosanna speaks truth and does not even get the magnitude of what she says. Friday night was one of those nights. As she was praying (right between thanking God for a good day and thanking Him for the snicker pie that Gayle made a month ago) she said, "God, I want to see Jesus." It was that quick, that simple, and then she was on to praying something about getting to go swimming. But in that short petition she gave verbal expression to the cry of the Christian heart: "God, I want to see Jesus."

The Bible closes with this amazing future promise for those that know Jesus Christ: "They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4). They will see His face because they will be living forever in His presence. His name is on their foreheads because they are His purchased possession.

In a world filled with chaos and hurt and pain and things that do not always make sense, may we turn our hearts toward Jesus and long to see His face. As we do, I suspect that more and more people may begin to see Christ in His followers. And more and more our affections will long for a deeper communion with the one that gave His life so that we could forever be in His presence as His possession. And when that happens we may begin to pray and ask to see Jesus too.