A Little Too Much Like Jesus.
Have you ever had those moments where you see the character of Jesus being lived out in the flesh and it makes you, well, a little uncomfortable?
Maybe it's just me.
The most vivid memory of this occurring was through my lovely roommate in college.
It was your typical Monday night and we had just finished another week of evening chapel. Once everything was cleaned up, I stood next to my fellow chapel coordinator as we locked up the last of our equipment. Now, our storage space was limited, so we had to store our music stands on top of the storage closet (I know, bad idea...as I would soon find out). Standing next to the storage closet as my friend gave one giant push to ensure the doors were closed tightly, a music stand decided to test the laws of gravity. Before the stand could reach the ground, my head graciously decided to step in and introduce itself to the heavy metal structure.
Needless to say, I drove home with a lovely goose egg formed on the top on my noggin. One that was incredibly tender to the touch and gave me an excruciating headache.
When I got home, my roommates were all filled with concern. And like any woman with motherly instincts, they instantly jumped in to assess the damage and care for to meteor that landed on my head.
That is when Jesus showed up.
As my loving roommate sat by my bed holding ice to my wound, the pain seemed unbearable. The ice was meant to help the swelling go down and was a good idea no matter how bad it felt. However, it hurt SOOO bad. What was good for me in the moment hurt worse than what would not benefit me at all. All she wanted to do was care for me and do what she knew was best for me in the long run. She could see the pain in my eyes and my body as I cringed from the horror. But she had her mind fixed on something I didn't: my long-term best.
I realized in that moment that she was looking a little too much like Jesus. Now, obviously, it's not a bad thing to be like Jesus. However, the lesson I learned in this situation made me understand Jesus more in a way that made me a little more uncomfortable than I would have liked.
You see, my comfortable version of Jesus (the one I like to formulate in my mind), does not do anything that brings me pain and discomfort. My comfy Jesus would never sit back and watch me writhe in pain. My convenient Jesus only does what I want him to do. And I like him that way.
However, THE Jesus shows me over and over again that he is greater than my made up version. He knows better than I do. He sees a bigger picture than I do. He loves me with a longer-term love than my instant-gratification Jesus. He knows what he is doing and he knows that it is what's best...even when I don't like it at the time.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced life's challenges and questioned why God was letting me go through it. I know so many people who are like me and when we don't get what we desire we question whether or not God truly loves us.
I want to challenge you (just as I am constantly challenged), to trust that God knows what He is doing. Sometimes it hurts, but that's because we aren't on the other side of Eternity yet. Sometimes it is incredibly uncomfortable. And sometimes we have no idea what God is doing or why he is doing it. But maybe if we stop fighting the pain, we will be able to see that all he is doing is taking care of us and trying to keep us from writhing in pain longer than necessary.
Let him hold the ice on your wounds. He is not doing so to hurt you, but to heal you!
Maybe it's just me.
The most vivid memory of this occurring was through my lovely roommate in college.
It was your typical Monday night and we had just finished another week of evening chapel. Once everything was cleaned up, I stood next to my fellow chapel coordinator as we locked up the last of our equipment. Now, our storage space was limited, so we had to store our music stands on top of the storage closet (I know, bad idea...as I would soon find out). Standing next to the storage closet as my friend gave one giant push to ensure the doors were closed tightly, a music stand decided to test the laws of gravity. Before the stand could reach the ground, my head graciously decided to step in and introduce itself to the heavy metal structure.
Needless to say, I drove home with a lovely goose egg formed on the top on my noggin. One that was incredibly tender to the touch and gave me an excruciating headache.
When I got home, my roommates were all filled with concern. And like any woman with motherly instincts, they instantly jumped in to assess the damage and care for to meteor that landed on my head.
That is when Jesus showed up.
As my loving roommate sat by my bed holding ice to my wound, the pain seemed unbearable. The ice was meant to help the swelling go down and was a good idea no matter how bad it felt. However, it hurt SOOO bad. What was good for me in the moment hurt worse than what would not benefit me at all. All she wanted to do was care for me and do what she knew was best for me in the long run. She could see the pain in my eyes and my body as I cringed from the horror. But she had her mind fixed on something I didn't: my long-term best.
I realized in that moment that she was looking a little too much like Jesus. Now, obviously, it's not a bad thing to be like Jesus. However, the lesson I learned in this situation made me understand Jesus more in a way that made me a little more uncomfortable than I would have liked.
You see, my comfortable version of Jesus (the one I like to formulate in my mind), does not do anything that brings me pain and discomfort. My comfy Jesus would never sit back and watch me writhe in pain. My convenient Jesus only does what I want him to do. And I like him that way.
However, THE Jesus shows me over and over again that he is greater than my made up version. He knows better than I do. He sees a bigger picture than I do. He loves me with a longer-term love than my instant-gratification Jesus. He knows what he is doing and he knows that it is what's best...even when I don't like it at the time.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced life's challenges and questioned why God was letting me go through it. I know so many people who are like me and when we don't get what we desire we question whether or not God truly loves us.
I want to challenge you (just as I am constantly challenged), to trust that God knows what He is doing. Sometimes it hurts, but that's because we aren't on the other side of Eternity yet. Sometimes it is incredibly uncomfortable. And sometimes we have no idea what God is doing or why he is doing it. But maybe if we stop fighting the pain, we will be able to see that all he is doing is taking care of us and trying to keep us from writhing in pain longer than necessary.
Let him hold the ice on your wounds. He is not doing so to hurt you, but to heal you!
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