Loving Jesus

"Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love Him..."

As I contemplated the beautiful words, I was suddenly startled to realize what I was singing. The words that came to me were, "Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me."

Wait a minute, I thought, I was singing about Jesus! Jesus is the One I love, and of course I long to see Him more clearly, to know Him more intimately. But...Jesus as "the least of these?" I'm not so sure about that.

What if "to reach out and touch Him" could mean getting my hands dirty? Allowing God to break my heart for those He loves, and I tend not to? (Or don't want to because I will get hurt.) The fatherless, the abused, those who have made lousy choices that have taken them miserable places (that I don't want to enter).

John Smucker's sermon this morning, entitled "The Test of Heaven," resurfaced these thoughts in my mind. He preached from Matthew 25: 31-46 where Jesus at the final judgment declares to the righteous, "As you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," and to the unrighteous, "As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."

Of course, I do not have to know people like these...the poor, the prisoner, the sick or anyone else whom I often consider unworthy of my time. I can smile at the people I see in town and consider my Christian duty accomplished. But the fact is, it's not.

As John Smucker said, "Every person is uniquely and individually precious to God." This is why I am asking God to open my heart to those He loves, to give me grace even to seek out those whom He seeks.

You and I have a choice. We can choose not to concern ourselves with the least. Or, we can choose to know more clearly the heartbeat of our precious Savior, and enter into the Kingdom He has prepared for us.

Another quote yet from John Smucker; I can’t promise this is verbatim, but it was to this effect: “In for any community or church to survive, it must care about the needs of its own members and about the needs of the culture around it.”

Grant us, Jesus, the desire to truly see You and express our love for You.

precious in His sight

Four precious sisters who came faithfully to VBS and kids' club are moving away next month. Tonight as I drove through town I stopped at their house with a Bible storybook as a going away present. All four girls were outside and came running to hug me. They had been running through a sprinkler and were sopping wet and adorable! I ran to get my camera and we did an impromptu photo shoot on the sidewalk.

Isaiah 57:15

"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
'I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite."


We offer pieces
Broken and shattered
Grateful that this offering
You accept, and love.

A. W. Tozer on the sacrament of living

"We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them...Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there."

"In order that I may be understood...I would throw into relief the practical implication of...the sacramental quality of every day living. Over against its positive meanings I would like to point out a few things it does not mean.

"It does not mean, for instance, that everything we do is of equal importance with everything else we do or may do. One act of a good man's life may differ widely from another in importance. Paul's sewing of tents was not equal to his writing of an epistle to the Romans, but both were accepted of God and both were true acts of worship. Certainly it is more important to lead a soul to Christ than to plant a garden, but the planting of the garden can be as holy an act as the winning of a soul."

--A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" Isa. 6:3

for your enjoyment

Lately I've been enjoying...

• lilacs

• My philosopher-brother reading Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories
  [Excerpt from "Alan and the Attic"]
  

(Alan, who is not allowed in the attic, is walking on the rafters. Mother hears creaking noises overhead.)

"'Alan!' she cried. 'Come on down at once!'

"He came, but not the way she expected.

"Suddenly there was a loud crack as part of the ceiling fell and hit mother on the head. Then two feet appeared, followed by two legs and the rest of Alan....

"Of course, when Daddy came home and saw the awful mess he had to clean up--well, Alan felt something worse than splinters. And this hurt wasn't in his hands!"

• my beautiful sisters

featuring the 4th sister ;)

So many places
Haunting faces
Hungry hearts
Reaching hands...

Jesus, show me where to serve
I follow You.
My life is not my own;
I belong to You.

My hands are Yours;
Use them to serve.
My feet
Are yours—I’ll go.

My heart is Yours
To be filled
With your burdens
And bleed for those You love.

I cannot choose where to go
I am Yours
Lead me, guide me
Show me Your path.

I will follow You
Because I love You
King of the universe,
King of my heart.

Amen.

Easter joy

Far back as I can remember, spring has been my favorite season. I am enchanted with new beginnings: sunrises, daffodils, and resurrection. This time of year I usually feel like singing “Pippa’s Song”:

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven...
All's right with the world.

-Robert Browning

And of all this newness, this beauty, this joy, Easter morning is the crown.

Yet this year, as I look forward to Easter Sunday, I am repeatedly reminded that all is not right with the world. My friend finds herself in an extremely difficult situation, a child I love is hurt by her parents’ choices, and a member of my youth group faces possibly lifelong restrictions to his ministry because of a false accusation. Just last evening a dear friend’s beloved Grandpa died. I find myself tempted to doubt what I wrote in my post on spring a few weeks ago. What is God really up to? Where is the possible good in these situations?

But then, why Easter? This God chose not only to become one of us but to take upon Himself our suffering and sin.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:3

In taking our mess upon Himself, He has given us the victory. Because Jesus ultimately conquered the powers of darkness, though they still rage in the world around us we have hope.

No, the answer is not easy. Truly creation groans for the day when things are made right forever. But I am grateful for a joy which transcends the happiness that is dependent on circumstances.

This joyful Eastertide, away with sin and sorrow!
My Love, the Crucified, has sprung to life this morrow.
Had Christ, that once was slain, ne’er burst His three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain; but now hath Christ arisen.

-George Ratcliffe Woodward