I am a Jesus pusher!!! I want to be sourced by Him in the exact same manner as He was sourced by the Father. I want Him to live through me as the Father lived through Him. When temptation arose, He immediately lounged into the arms of His Father. He wanted to see the situation exactly as the Father saw it. Jesus wanted the tone, attitude, and heart of the Father. It was not a matter of right or wrong. What was wrong with being hungry and needing bread (Matthew 4:3)? Upon discovering the perspective of the Father, Jesus responded to Satan, “It is written,” (Matthew 4:4). He then proceeds to quote an Old Testament passage.
It is written is a phrase used sixty-one times in the New Testament. Each usage is referring to the Scriptures. Jesus uses it three times in this temptation scene (Matthews 4:4, 7, 10). The Scriptures were at the heart of the intimacy between Jesus and His Father. Jesus did not use the Scriptures as an academic study or a proof texting. He was not interested in bumper sticker slogans. He wanted to know the passion of the Father. He saturated in the Scriptures as He saturated in the fellowship of the person of His Father. It was through the intimacy of their oneness, He was able to understand and hear the voice of the Father through the Scriptures. The Scriptures were alive because the Father was alive in Him.
I am a Jesus pusher!!! I desperately want to know the mind of Christ as He knew the mind of His Father. At the heart of this intimacy will be the Scriptures. The Living Word wants to flow into and through my life through the Written Word. We do not worship the Bible; we worship Jesus, the Living Word. However, the Bible becomes alive because the author is speaking to me through His Word. In the sourcing of the Spirit, I see the lips of Jesus parting as He speaks to me through His Word. The Written Word becomes an extension of the Living Word. Oh, I know Him; I hear Him! I am a Jesus pusher!!!