Poker players famously shield their inner thoughts, not wanting to give any clue to the cards they hold. One thing I love about my wife is that she rarely keeps a secret—her look gives it away. Fortunately, she never plays poker.

Even the best poker players lay open to Jesus. Crowds surrounded Jesus, many beginning to follow him due to his miracles. But Jesus read each person individually, parsing the sincere from the shallow.

Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

Think about how Jesus interacted with people. He watched the widow putting her two pennies in the offering box and knew she gave all she possessed. Jesus felt the sincere faith of the woman who touched him in hopes of staunching years of bleeding. The black hearts of the Pharisees assaulted his senses.

Just as Jesus knew the heart of everyone around him in first century Palestine, he knows the hearts of you and me. If Jesus sat with me over a coffee, I would squirm and avoid eye contact as Jesus read my cards. Hopefully, after the initial deflections, I would open up under the caring eye of the Savior. No use hiding, Jesus knows all about me already.

Which is a truth to take to heart. Jesus knows you and me better than we know ourselves, and still lived and died for you and me. More accurately, Jesus died and now lives with you and me. If you wonder about your worth, think of Jesus and his knowledge of you.

And be sure to remember, you don’t want to play poker with Jesus.

John 2 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski