What If You Lived Your Whole Life Unseen?

John 1:14–18

Episode Summary

What if no one ever really saw you?

Not just physically—but fully.
Not just your face, but your heart.
Not just your name, but your soul.

What if your whole life, you felt like a shadow in the background?
A blur in the crowd?
What if you were never known—never truly known—by anyone?

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we reflect on one of the most powerful, humbling truths in the Gospel of John:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
— John 1:18

Jesus… makes God known.
Visible. Touchable. Real.
The invisible God becomes seeable through the Son.

And in doing so, Jesus also shows us this:
You are seen—deeply and personally—by the God who made you.
Even when no one else seems to notice.

Going Deeper

I’ve spent time in the shadows before.
Maybe you have too.

That feeling of being on the outside.
Of not being cool enough, loud enough, confident enough.
Of watching the world spin around you, while you wonder if anyone even knows you’re there.

When I was younger, I wrestled with that sense of invisibility.
Not always because people were cruel—but because they just didn’t see me.
Not fully.

And when you go long enough without being seen, you start to wonder:
Am I even worth being seen?

But then I met Jesus.
And He saw everything.

Not just the image I tried to project.
Not just the me I thought people wanted.
He saw the real me.

The hurting me.
The insecure me.
The me that didn’t know who I was supposed to be.

And He didn’t look away.
He didn’t flinch.
He didn’t leave.

“The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.”
— John 1:14

This is one of the most beautiful sentences ever written.
Because it tells us that God didn’t stay far off.
He stepped into skin.
He entered the very world He made.
He dwelt—pitched His tent, moved into the neighborhood—among us.

And when Jesus came, He tore down the wall that kept us separated from the divine.
He ripped the veil.
He bridged the chasm.
He made the invisible God known.

Not just to the religious elite.
Not just to the scholars or the mystics.
But to people like me.
People like you.

People who felt unseen.

Now I see Him everywhere.

In sunsets.
In oceans.
In my wife’s sleepy smile.
In the outstretched hands of my child.
In a rain-drenched wedding that somehow still radiated joy.

He’s not just in the big “spiritual” moments.
He’s in the quiet. The subtle. The tender.
If we have eyes to see.

But there’s more.

Because now that we see Jesus…
We’re called to help others see Him too.

“You are the light of the world.”
— Matthew 5:14

We aren’t the source of the light.
We’re the reflection.
Like the moon catching the sun, we reflect His glory into a dark and disoriented world.

But sometimes, let’s be honest… we block the light.

With our pride.
With our apathy.
With our self-focus.

We shine best when we’re emptied of ourselves and filled with Him.
When we let go of our need to be seen, and focus on helping others see Jesus.

Devotional: A Prayer for the Unseen and the Light Bearers

Jesus,
Sometimes I feel invisible.
Like no one really sees me.
Like I’m just drifting through life, unnoticed.

But You see me.
You always have.
Even when I felt invisible to the world—You had Your eyes on me.

You know every part of me.
And You don’t turn away.

So I thank You.
For becoming flesh.
For dwelling among us.
For revealing the heart of the Father to people like me.

Now help me reflect that light.

If I’ve been blocking You—
If my life has been more about me than You—
Clean it out.

Shine through me.

Let people see You in my words.
In my presence.
In my posture.
In my peace.

You lived as the unseen Savior.
But now it’s time for You to be seen.

So use me.
Use my light.
Use my life.

Amen.