S2 Ep27: Christ Is Always Close

What if the most hopeful truth about your spiritual life is also the easiest to miss: you don’t have to chase Jesus down. I’ve spent plenty of seasons acting like Christ is somewhere out in front of me, waiting until I finally get my life together. But the Gospels tell a gentler story. Again and again, Jesus is already there first, already near, already listening, already loving. 

We start with a question that gets uncomfortably practical: when was the last time someone completely surprised you? The people who shape our Christian faith are not always the ones with titles, degrees, or a pulpit. Sometimes God teaches us courage through illness, grace through wounded hearts that refuse bitterness, and holy curiosity through children who ask questions we can’t answer. When we release our assumptions, we begin to see the quiet miracle of God’s presence showing up in the lives we once overlooked. 

From there we walk into Scripture, especially the road to Emmaus, where discouraged disciples discover that Christ has been beside them all along. That story sets up Romans 12, where Paul calls a divided community to become one body with many members. Not identical, not interchangeable, but bound together by love. We talk about renewing the mind as learning to see people the way Christ already sees them, making room at the table, and trading “winning” for understanding. 

If you’re tired of trying to earn belonging, let this be a deep exhale. Listen, share it with a friend who needs comfort, and if it helps you, subscribe and leave a review. Where have you noticed Christ showing up closer than you expected?

Let's Get Into It!!

Transcript

Welcome And A Surprise Question

Speaker 0:08

Hello, friends, welcome back to Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart. I'm Steve Pozzato, and as always, I am grateful that you have invited me to spend these moments with you today. Whether you're driving to work, taking a walk, sitting quietly with a cup of coffee or tea, or simply needing a few moments to breathe in the middle of a busy day, thank you for being here with me. Today I'd like to begin with a simple question, I think. It's a question that I was considering on my way to the church here to record this podcast. And that is, when was the last time someone completely surprised you? And, you know, not because they accomplished something extraordinary or became famous or turned out to be someone entirely different, but maybe they became a trusted friend, or a mentor, or family even. Or maybe they challenged your assumptions in a way that changed you in some way. I think we all understand those moments. And I think we all have those people in our lives who have changed us and surprised us in wonderful ways. I know I certainly have. Some of the people who have shaped my faith the most are people I never expected to teach me anything. Some of them stood behind pulpits, and others have never preached a sermon in their life. Some have had degrees hanging on their office walls, and still others carried wisdom that no classroom could ever give me. I mean, I've learned about courage from people who are battling illnesses. I've learned about grace from people who have had every reason to become bitter. I've learned about hope from those who had almost nothing left to hold on to. And I've learned about God and continue to learn about God through children who ask questions that I can't answer. Life has a remarkable way of introducing us to people that we never expected to need. And if we're paying attention, those people often become some of God's greatest gifts to us.

Unexpected People Who Shape Faith

Speaker 2:39

And maybe that's because we spend so much of our lives making assumptions, right? This is a human thing we do. We look at other people, we see their positions or their situations, and sometimes we make assumptions. We decide who has something new or valuable to teach us, who belongs, who doesn't, who is successful, who is wise, who is my kind of people. And if we're honest, many of those assumptions are formed long before we ever know someone's story. But then something happens. We have a conversation, or we share a meal, we go through a difficult season together, or there's a moment of vulnerability, and suddenly we realize that the person that we thought we understood, we never really knew at all. And I think that's one of the quiet miracles of God. One of the God-smiling moments. It's not simply learning new ideas about God, but slowly discovering that God has been present in people that we never expected. A way that comes into our lives and changes the way we see the world, and perhaps it even changes the way we see ourselves. We speak sometimes as though following Jesus means trying to catch up to someone who is always several steps ahead of us. As though Christ is somewhere in the distance waiting patiently until we finally get our lives together enough to deserve walking beside him. We make these assumptions too, right? If you go to church, sometimes there's an assumption that the person who stands in the pulpit, perhaps are wearing a robe, perhaps a stole, or perhaps they're simply preaching a sermon. We tend to think that they know much more about God and the Bible and faith than we do sometimes. My friends, I can tell you from experience that is not true. God places people in our lives to learn about God through them. And it isn't always the person that we think is in a place of authority. From my own personal experience, I have learned more about God and the nature of Christ through the people in my life, through congregants and churches that I either stand before in the pulpit or sit beside in pews, from my own children, from being out and caring for people, from students I used to teach, students I still tutor and teach today. That's how I hear the voice of God, and the lessons that I learn about Christ, I learn through them in such beautiful ways that seminary could never have taught me. That is how I feel and hear and see God through other people, through nature, through the world around me, beyond the world, taking a closer look and hearing somebody else speak, listening to another story, listening to someone else's perspective.

Jesus Arrives Before We Do

Speaker 6:20

When I read the Gospels, I don't just see Jesus. I see a Savior who is already drawing near, sitting beside a well before the Samaritan woman arrives, walking the shoreline before he calls the fisherman. He's already in Zacchaeus' town before Zacchaeus climbs the tree. He's standing outside Lazarus' tomb before anyone imagines that hope is possible. And I can imagine that Jesus was also learning much more about his own nature and the nature of the Father through the people that he called, through the people that he met, not just during his ministry, but in all those years before that we don't have a recounting of. But then we have the gospels. We see that Jesus is teaching the truths that he has learned. We see Jesus speaking from the experience of being a God that is human also. Or a human that is also God. Or if a human, if that's what you like to believe. Or if that is what you believe. I won't knock it. I will say that Jesus sometimes strikes me most when he speaks about human nature. Jesus as a man has a lot to teach me. Just as Jesus as the Son of God has a lot to teach me. And again, I wonder if that perspective is helpful for me. Because I learn about God through other people.

Emmaus And The Hidden Companion

Speaker 8:22

When we get to the end of the Gospels, one of my favorite images comes after the resurrection. Two discouraged disciples are walking the road to Emmaus. They are grieving, confused, certain that everything they had hoped for has fallen apart. And before they recognize him, before they understand who he is, before their faith is restored, Jesus is already walking beside them. He listens, he asks questions, he shares the journey, and only later do they realize that Christ had been with them all along. And I find that deeply comforting because we never know who is walking beside us and how much more our own faith and our own trust in God and Christ are made possible through that person. It reminds me that the Christian life isn't about chasing after a savior who keeps moving farther away and moving at a goalpost. It's about gradually recognizing the Christ who has quietly been walking aside us all along, through the people that we know and love, and through all the people we have yet to know, and even some of those that we've made assumptions about. I think perhaps faith is awakening to the one who never left. And once we begin to recognize his presence, something remarkable begins to happen. We begin seeing differently. And not because the world has changed, but because we have. We begin seeing people differently. We begin seeing ourselves differently. We begin seeing God's image in places that we once overlooked. And maybe that is what transformation really looks like. Not escaping the world and not pretending that differences don't exist, but seeing every person through the love with which Christ already sees them.

Romans 12 And Renewed Vision

Speaker 10:31

And that's exactly where the Apostle Paul meets us in Romans chapter 12. He's writing to a church filled with people who have every reason to remain divided. They have different histories, different cultures, personalities, experiences, different ways of understanding the world. And he doesn't ask them to become identical. He invites them to become one. And not that they will all think alike, and not because they'll always agree, but because Christ has already made them family. And the question is not whether Christ is willing to walk with them, the question is whether they are willing to recognize one another as fellow travelers on that same road. And that's something beautiful that we can ask ourselves. It brings something up, I think, in my head. It means that perhaps instead of asking, how can I become someone else? Perhaps it's about praying out, Lord, God, Jesus, help me see what you already see. Because if Christ has been walking beside us, if Christ has already chosen to recognize us, then perhaps the question is not whether we are worthy enough to follow him. Perhaps the question is much gentler than that. Will we allow ourselves to recognize the one who has already recognized us? And that is a beautiful difference. Because so much of life teaches us that we have to earn belonging. We have to earn approval and acceptance and love. We become exhausted trying to prove ourselves, trying to become enough, trying to become someone worthy of being noticed. And yet, over and over in the Gospels, Jesus notices people long before they imagine they're worthy of his attention. He calls Zacchaeus by name before Zacchaeus has climbed back down the tree. He speaks to the Samaritan woman before she understands who he is. He walks beside the disciples on the road before they ever recognize him. He loves first. Recognition comes later. And maybe that's how God has always loved us. Not because we finally became the people that God wanted us to be, but because God has always seen who we truly are beneath our fears, beneath our moments that we think we've failed, beneath our assumptions and beneath our labors, labels and labors. Right to the quick. We become free, free to listen, free to forgive, free to learn and grow, free to welcome. And perhaps most importantly, free to be surprised by love. A love that is already present. One of the quiet joys in this life of ministry that I am embarking on has been discovering that Christ is constantly introducing me to people I never knew I needed, as I mentioned. And sometimes they become dear friends, sometimes they become teachers, many times they challenge me, and sometimes they simply remind me that God's image is always larger than my expectations. I've learned that every person carries a story that I can't immediately see, that every person carries joys and griefs that I know nothing about, that every person has been shaped by moments I was never present for. And every person, whether they recognize it or not, has been lovingly held by the same God who lovingly holds me. And that changes the way I enter a room. Instead of asking, who are these people? I begin wondering, Lord, what have you already been doing in their lives? And immediately my perspective changes. Because Christ arrived before I have. The Holy Spirit has been gently at work long before our paths crossed, and maybe they led to this moment. And perhaps I am not bringing Christ to someone else. Perhaps I am discovering that Christ is already present within the life of another child of God. And that thought fills me with tremendous hope. And it fills me with humility because it reminds me that I don't have to have all the answers. And I can tell you from my own experience that I seldom have any answers. But the more questions I have, the more the more that truth becomes evident that God is here. That even if my questions aren't answered, I become comfortable in the knowledge of knowing that it's okay that I that I don't have the answers. I don't have to convince everyone to become like me, and I don't even have to understand everything about another person's journey. We aren't setting up benchmarks for one another to complete, to earn. Because love simply begins by recognizing that Christ is already walking with both of us on our own roads, and today our paths have converged. And that is wonderful. Every moment from the beginning of the universe to now has led to this moment for us. Just as it is on any other planet around any other star in any other galaxy in this universe, every moment from this to that, every atom split or combined has led here. You chanced into a room with someone else, not knowing what we will learn. And Paul says something beautiful as well in Romans about this very thing.

Diversity As A Gift To Receive

Speaker 17:36

He reminds the church that we are one body with many members, not identical members, not interchangeable members, but different people with different stories and different experiences, different ways of seeing the world. And somehow that diversity is not a problem to solve, it is a gift to receive. Perhaps we have spent too much of our lives trying to make everyone think alike when Christ has been inviting us to love one another instead. Again, it's a human thing to do. But love has never required sameness. Love simply asks us to make room. To make room at the table. Make the table longer and make the fences shorter. Make room in our hearts, room for another story, room for another perspective, room for another beloved child of God. Because isn't that exactly what Jesus did? Everywhere he went, he made room. He made room for the doubter, for the sinner, for the religious, the outsider, for the child. He made room for the one everyone else had given up on. Not because every choice they made was good, and not because every belief they held was correct, but because every one of them was already loved. And perhaps that's what refreshing our mind means. Perhaps once we refresh our minds in these ideas that Christ already loves us, we begin to see differently. We don't simply see who people have been, but who they are becoming and how God loves them in their lives, not simply where they have been, but the Christ who quietly has been walking beside them all along, the same way he was walking with us and still does. Maybe that's the invitation today, not to become someone entirely new, but to awaken to the love that has already found you. To trust that Christ is not waiting somewhere in the distance for us to catch up. He's already here, already walking beside us, already seeing the beauty in us that perhaps we have forgotten to see in ourselves sometimes. And perhaps if we begin recognizing his presence, we will begin recognizing the same sacred beauty in one another. Because every person we meet, every conversation we have, every unexpected friendship or surprising teacher is another opportunity to discover that the kingdom of heaven has always been larger, kinder, and more welcoming than we ever imagined. And thanks be to God for that.

You Do Not Have To Find Christ

Speaker 20:40

So, my friends, as we come to the end of our time together today, I'd like to leave you with a simple thought this week. You don't have to find Christ. Maybe that's a strange thing to hear somebody in ministry say, but we often talk as though God is, I don't know, hiding somewhere, waiting for us to discover him, but the story of Scripture tells us something different. Again and again, God is the one who comes looking for us. In the cool of the garden, in the wilderness, in Bethlehem, on the shores of Galilee, here on our own roads. The story has never been about humanity finding God. It has always been about God lovingly refusing to stop finding humanity. And maybe that's where we can finally exhale. Because it means you don't have to spend this week trying to earn God's attention. You already have it. You don't have to become more lovable, you are already loved. You don't have to convince Christ to walk beside you, he already is. And the diversity in beliefs, the diversity in peoples, the diversity in In the lives and experiences and loves of all these other people that we get to share this earth with to be celebrated. No one of us needs to earn God's love any more than the other. It is already given. The invitation has never been, come find me. Christ's invitation was always, would you like to keep walking together? And I find tremendous hope in that. Because some weeks I don't feel particularly faithful. Some weeks I don't have all the answers, and some weeks my prayers are a little more than silence. Some weeks I find myself wondering if I'm seeing clearly at all. And yet Christ keeps walking patiently, quietly, lovingly, never forcing, never shaming, simply remaining present. And I wonder what our world would look like if we learned to love one another that way. And I can promise you one thing: it will not be easy. But it will be worth it. If we weren't trying to fix one another and we started walking beside one another, if we became more interested in understanding than winning, more interested in listening than judging, and more interested in recognizing Christ in another person than proving ourselves right. My friend, those are those are just more bricks to carry. Start with love. And maybe that's what Paul was meaning by refreshing the mind. It's not about changing our opinions or the way we approach things, but it's about allowing the love of Christ to become the way we see. Seeing ourselves with gentleness, seeing our neighbors with curiosity, seeing strangers with compassion, seeing the church as a family gathered not because we are all alike, but because Christ has lovingly gathered us together, knowing our diversity and our differences, our different beliefs and our different paths and experiences. And friends, I don't know who you will meet this week, and I don't know what conversations await you. I don't know what joys or disappointments tomorrow may bring, but I do know this. Every person you encounter is someone Christ already knows. Every person you meet is someone Christ already loves. And every person, including you, including me, is still becoming, as we will do every day for the rest of our lives. So perhaps our prayer this week isn't, Lord, help me become someone else. Perhaps our prayer is simply, Lord, help me notice where you are already walking. Because I have a feeling you'll find him in unexpected places, in a conversation you didn't plan, in someone you thought you understood, in an act of kindness that almost went unnoticed, in the laughter of a child, the wisdom of an older friend, in the forgiveness you never imagined was possible. And perhaps when you least expect it, you'll discover that Christ has been quietly walking beside you all along. Not waiting for you to become perfect, but simply delighted to share the journey.

Prayer And A Sending Blessing

Speaker 25:42

Let's pray. Gracious and loving God, thank you for never growing weary of walking beside us. Thank you for seeing us with the eyes of compassion when we struggle to see ourselves with that same kindness. Refresh our hearts, not so that we become strangers to ourselves, but so that we become more deeply aware of your presence in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Teach us to recognize your image in every person we meet. Help us to make room for one another just as Christ made room for us. And when we lose our way, remind us gently that you have never lost sight of us. Continue walking with us as we learn to walk with you. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who came not to condemn the world, but that the world might know your love. Amen. My friends, thank you for joining me for another episode of Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart. And until next time, may you discover that Christ is closer than you imagined. May you see another person with fresh eyes, and may you never forget that before you ever recognized him, he had already recognized you. And he loved you and still does. Grace and peace be with you always, my friends. Carry the light of love with you, because wherever you carry it, there shall you go in peace. Until next time, be well and farewell.