True Satisfaction - Philip

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?”

John 14:8-9

Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, once wrote of billionaire Howard Hughes, “All he ever wanted was more. He was absolutely convinced that more would bring him true satisfaction. Unfortunately, history shows otherwise. . . . He died a billionaire junkie, insane by all reasonable standards.”

There are many reasons why people don’t find satisfaction in life, and one of them is that they don’t always know what they are looking for.

Philip, one of the twelve apostles, had spent three-plus years following Jesus and had led his fellow disciple Nathanael to him (see John 1:45-48), and he still felt dissatisfied.

As Jesus prepared his disciples for his death, he told them, “If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” (John 14:7). That statement had all the disciples scratching their heads, but Philip spoke up, saying, “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Philip firmly believed that Jesus was the Jewish people’s promised and long-awaited Messiah, but for some reason it hadn’t quite sunk in that Jesus was truly God in the flesh. Jesus gently rebuked Philip. “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”

All Philip wanted was to see his heavenly Father. That evening, he learned that he could satisfy that desire by looking at Jesus.

Where do you look to find satisfaction? If that’s what you want, you need look no further than Jesus Christ. As the perfect image of his heavenly Father, he can satisfy your craving for God.