He never met a prodigious adult who didn’t shrink in his presence; or raise a child to feeling himself a giant of faith. He easily mastered the theological depths of school-trained rabbis; and as quickly stood amazed at the profound faith of a Gentile soldier—a man who believed just because Jesus said so. The kind of faith he demands of us, but too seldom receives.
He watched unfazed as wealthy believers enriched the treasury with bountiful gifts, but experienced elation by a poor widow’s daily wage deposited there. He would, by his spiritual depth, successfully debate the keenest intellects in Israel, but let himself be bested into helping a Syrophoenician Greek woman. Because she understood that his playful illustration revealed a nature willing to be captured by his own words. He treated Satan with the contempt he deserved each time they met face-to-face, and each time the Evil One staggered away, black and blue! Yet, when a woman of the streets, having found forgiveness of sin in his teaching, entered Simon the Pharisee’s house, Jesus accepted her loving tears, ointment and hair as a towel for his feet. Jesus always brutalized the Evil One for harming God’s people, but gently received the sinner ensnared in wickedness. Jesus is the Friend...Counselor...Leader...when we want someone to care; to treat us with grace we don’t deserve, but need; to give us helpful, but unwelcome counsel, because his tutelage makes demands we find odious; to climb higher in behavior than we’ve ever been—and resist—because we prefer the practiced rut of life; to BE THERE when we repent and ask forgiveness, though we often find ourselves back in the sin repented. Of all the heroes people honor, of all the pursuits those heroes embody, who but Jesus saves us now from ourselves and our sins; and gives us Hope we now consider too high but seen THEN as infinitely low. And gives us dreams now too large but seen THEN as far too small. When God disposes of all earthly illusions and opens our brains and hearts to HIS GLORY
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|