Bewildered, He stands, staring at me in utter disbelief with his head tilted slightly to the right…eyes wide open, left eyebrow cocked…arms raised, palms up at about the same level as His semi-shrugged shoulders…words finally spilling out of His already gaping mouth: “Seriously?! Again?! Oh, you’re KILLING Me!” To note: I have NO doubt that my sin and ignorance did, in fact, play a HUGE role in the crucifixion of my Savior, but this is how I sometimes (jokingly) picture Jesus looking down on this unworthy lump of human. Silly I know, but have you ever done an image search for ‘Jesus’? You should try it. Go ahead. I’ll wait. So why is it that you never see the physical image of God’s perfection & love…with a smile on His face?! Apparently, many artists over the years pictured Christ as some holy curmudgeon as well! Of course, I know Jesus loves me. Yes, this I know. For the Bible tells me so! (sorry, had to) But it sure would help to have an image to go along with the truth in my heart. So as I scanned through hundreds of unhappy Jesuses, I was reminded of Moses’ words in Exodus 33 when he asked God to reveal his glory, his presence. In other words, “LORD, show me your face!” Had Moses had a tablet (technological, not stone) in hand at that moment and done his own image search, he might have been hesitant in asking if that’s what was expected with God’s heavenly visage. And God’s response? “How about I show you my goodness instead? I’ll let you see me, but only when my goodness has passed you by.” To note: The term ‘goodness’…when split and slightly modified…can be read as ‘Good News’… (just sayin’) But God’s face was not to be seen… …not yet anyway. [Matthew 9:19-22] From her steps, the woman watched as Good News walked past. She approached the mob surrounding Him with confidence, but her weakened condition from years of constant bleeding quickly took her to her knees. Faithfully undiminished, she crawled into the horde, past dozens of punishing kicks and nudges until she was finally able to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. Her health was immediately restored, but in her exuberance, she failed to notice that all motion surrounding her had suddenly ceased. As the sea of legs parted, she found herself almost nose to toe with the now-pivoted Good News. To note: Jesus did not scold the woman or put her on the spot for interrupting His travels. Instead, He TURNED TO FACE HER…(turns to face you and me)...with a smile as wide as the east is to the west and said: “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! I don’t want you crawling around on the backside of my Glory. I want face to face relationship with you…YES, JUST YOU! Be encouraged, (insert your name)! Your faith has made you well!”
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 21:24:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015