Come and See

  Come and See

   “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.” 1 John 4:9-11

We are meant to live our lives with the aroma of Christ on us so that others will come and see. The love that we are meant to display is a Divine love made visible so others can experience that love of Jesus. 

“Divine love is characterized as an ongoing, other-regarded concern that is unmotivated by the object's worth and spontaneously extends to all, including the undeserving.” Donald Bloesch

Jesus was always displaying this kind of love. The kind that met people wherever they were. The woman at the well, Zacheus, Saul, and my life. Divine love met me when I was in a mess. My little understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus was completely revealed when I met a widow at twenty-two years old. A brochure on our apartment door in a new town and newly married couple led us to the greatest love I had ever experienced. A widow that dedicated herself to a church of young marrieds took me under her wing. I told her everything I had ever done. All the shame and guilt I had carried for so many years I revealed to an eighty-three year old stranger who became my mentor. She took me to my first bible study where I met another lady who lost her two sons and her husband in the last couple years to death. She too was a widow but at a much younger age. It was there that I saw in that young twenty something widow that I will never forget. Her faith and peace was unshakable. It even accompanied me many years down the road. Her faith resonated in a way that I could see that no matter what she had a peace that surpassed all her understanding. She had an unexplainable glow of peace even after all the loss. She knew Jesus was with her. 

Love was made visible through two women that met me at my worst. It was then and there that they told me that I didn’t have to clean myself up before coming to Jesus. He would take me as I was and do the cleaning himself. He desires to meet us in our messes. The enemy wants us to think that we need to not come until we have changed but the truth is Jesus is willing and ready to meet us wherever we are. So we should be able to meet others that way.

I heard someone recently say, “Today the church is not called merely to explain Jesus, but to embody this invitation. Our lives become the doorway. Our peace, humility, repentance, a love whisper to a watching world. Come and see.” Not a "I am right, you are wrong" kind of posture but a, “Come and see what Jesus has done for me” in our everyday lives. A readily available life ready to meet others wherever God has placed us. In our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and homes being that extension of His Divine love.

Father,

The world around us is looking for something to satisfy. We have seen the effects in this world when we continue to live for ourselves. You want us to understand your love, you don’t hide that from us. We are the ones that don’t receive all that is waiting for us. Jesus, help us to go out with the aroma of you everywhere we go. That is how others can come and see all that you have for them. We have seen and testify that the Father sent you as the world’s Savior so that others can know you Jesus.

Amen