GOD IS IN ME John 14:20

“. . . know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
John 14:20

We now understand that none of the four Gospels were written as biography or history, but were written forty to sixty years after Jesus’ death to give meaning to the life-changing experiences that the early Jewish and gentile followers of The Way could only explain as still experiencing Christ as a presence in their lives. And those words written so long ago have continued to touch people and change their lives for the past two thousand years and continue to do so today.

For me, the quotation from John above has become the kernel of my understanding of who I am. It has become my “Bible verse” that has opened up to me who God is. I gave up long ago attempts to “explain” God. One cannot use words to describe what is beyond words, beyond space and time, but can only be experienced. And that experience is within myself! God is in me!

I am not one who has gone around quoting Bible verses. A few years ago when I was sitting in church during a lenten meditation service, I picked up a pew Bible and (uncharacteristically, I should add) opened it randomly toward the end of the book and my finger landed on the above verse. I read it and reread it, and in a slowly dawning recognition, I recognized the simplicity as well as the wide implications of those words for me. It summarized years of reading and studying with one short statement. And so it has become like a mantra for me, a reminder of who I am. To me it says it all. It is my creed, my statement of belief.

But it is also a mystery. It does not explain. It only allows me to glimpse the wonder of life and realize that I am a part of it. I can only stand in awe. And join with thousands of others who have also experienced that mystery!.

At first I read that verse as “God is in me,” and marveled at what that meant. But then I came across a quote from Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, “When you love, you should not say, ‘God is in my heart,’ but rather, ‘I am in the heart of God.’”

“Know that I am in my Father, and I in you, and you in me.”

Loren Bullock
August 30, 2009