A Friend Who Understands: Jesus is a lot more relatable than I imagined.

Home > 2013 > March/April Issue

A Friend Who Understands

Jesus is a lot more relatable than I imagined.

Jill Savage

Average Rating:

I love a good biography. There's nothing better than curling up in my favorite chair with a cup of tea and a book about someone's real life experiences. Everyone has a story, and I love reading about other people's stories.

I was going through a spiritually dry season when I whined to God aloud one day.

"You feel so far away, God. You know how much I love biographies. Why can't you drop a biography in my lap about Jesus?"

I'm sure God smiled. No, he probably laughed in that grace-filled, loving kind of way that a mother laughs at her child's childish ways.

I glanced across the room at my "Quiet Time" basket where I keep my Bible, my prayer notebook, and a devotional. That's when I realized the foolishness of my whiney words. The Bible—specifically the first four books of the New Testament—are biographies of Jesus Christ. I'd just never thought of them that way before.

The more I read, the closer I felt to God. I was drinking living water in the midst of my spiritual desert. My perspective changed. My heart softened. My hope was renewed.

When I put my youngest child down for a nap that afternoon, I picked up my Message Bible (a paraphrased version that reads more like a novel). Turning to the Book of Matthew, I curled into my chair, sipped a cup of tea, and started reading with a new perspective.

I was captivated.

I knew that when Jesus lived on this earth he was fully God and fully man. Up to that point in my life, I'd unknowingly focused on the "fully God" part of who he was. He was born of a virgin. He performed miracles. Healed people. Rose from the dead. He was God on earth. I knew that.

As I sat reading, though, I saw the other part of who Jesus was: fully human. When I got to these words, I immediately connected them to my life: "Large crowds followed him wherever he went" (Matthew 4:25).

That's just like me: large crowds of children follow me everywhere I go! Even when I go to the bathroom, there are little fingers under the door! Jesus understands what it feels like to be in high demand.

Reading on, I found several places where it indicated that people pressed into him in a crowd. Then I ran across the story of the woman who had been bleeding for many years (Matthew 9:20-22). She pushed through the crowd just to touch Jesus' clothing.

Oh my goodness! People were always touching him. That's my life too! My children are always hanging on me, and then I fall into bed next to a husband with a gleam in his eye! Jesus knows what it feels like to have no personal space!

Page 1 of 2 Next Page...