I Saw Jesus Today
The title is true...I saw Jesus today. He sat across from me at the super-hipster coffee shop in the Village, sipping on my recommended dirty hippie, half spice/half vanilla, ordering it with the classic "make that 2" and then kindly paying the bill, slipping a dollar in the tip jar. He looked like Kevin Nealon and Nicolas Cage had a baby, with a receding hairline, tired blue eyes that oozed sincerity and welled with tears, and he wore a swath of green and navy, in various patterns.
He came in the form of a middle-aged man who lived a successful, blessed, comfortable life for 43 years. School came easily to him, graduating with a 4.0 at a Big Ten school, getting married his junior year, getting his M.B.A. from Harvard paid for through a fellowship, lending his word to work for one of the biggest companies in America. He grew up in an Indiana town on fundamental values, believing hard work and obedience were crucial to a Christian life. He financially partnered with various ministries, funding up to 15 individual missionaries at one point. Many of those he'd never met, but he gave generously and prayed faithfully. That's how we met. Actually, we never met. I got his name from a friend in 2006, wrote him a letter and gave him a phone call, and he began partnering me in ministry for a generous amount...especially for being perfect strangers. So far, everything he touched seemed to be blessed by God---great kids, work, family. And it was only months after I crossed this man's path that his whole life started to fall apart.
He came home one day and his wife had been giving him the cold shoulder. That wasn't abnormal, but this seemed to go on longer than normal. When he asked her what was up, she replied, "I've been living a lie. I don't love you, and I don't think I ever will."
His world started to crumble. Next, the subsidiary he had helped grow finally sold, and he was promptly replaced by a new C.O.O.. He noted that if his marriage hadn't been falling apart, it would have been incredibly devastating, but in the sober reality of what was truly important, the loss of this job and seeming betrayal of a company he had help succeed was simply background noise. He was devastated. He and his wife cohabitated for a while until she decided to leave and divorce him. That was nine years ago.
And with those blue, genuine, worn eyes, he looked at me and said, "I hold out hope that God will restore our marriage. I still love her and I will stand in the gap for my marriage." At this point, tears began to fill up both sets of eyes.
The man has patiently, prayerfully waited for 9 years for a wife who left him, who refuses to talk with him, and who wants nothing to do with him. And he will continue to wait until she returns, Christ returns, or calls him home.
The world says, "Why are you waiting? She left you. You deserve to be happy and find someone else." But he says, "That's not what Christ has done for me. The Bible says that a husband is to love his wife like Jesus loves the church. Jesus loved me when I was an enemy, when I was mocking him, denying him, ignoring him, disregarding him, and nailing him to a cross. He didn't say, 'We'll, he left me so I guess I'll leave him.' No, he met us in our sin and he pursued us to the point of death on a cross. So I will wait and plead and love her, even when she refuses me and ignores my love. And I will do this because it is just a fraction of the way Christ has loved me. That is what I am called to do. And God will continue to give me the grace to love her and wait for her."
And that's how I saw Jesus today. In a man who chooses to wear his wedding ring 9 years after his wife left him because he made a vow before a holy God. A man who is committed to following what Christ commands, even though it is arduous, uncomfortable, and longsuffering, because he believes suffering in obedience will result in the glory of Christ and the words "Well done, good and faithful servant" when he gives an account for how he lived his life. I saw a man who has taken the unpopular route and has said that the point of life isn't just to be happy, but to find true joy in sharing in both the blessings and sufferings of Christ. I saw a tangible picture of Jesus' love for me. A love that denies itself, that puts aside its own desires, and says, "Whatever the cost, I want you restored to me."
Today I got a glimpse of how the body of Christ is supposed to live our their faith with fear and trembling. And in watching him go through his pain and suffering with joy, hope, and patient endurance and obedience, I found a little more courage to stride out my own journey. And I hope you do, too.
He came in the form of a middle-aged man who lived a successful, blessed, comfortable life for 43 years. School came easily to him, graduating with a 4.0 at a Big Ten school, getting married his junior year, getting his M.B.A. from Harvard paid for through a fellowship, lending his word to work for one of the biggest companies in America. He grew up in an Indiana town on fundamental values, believing hard work and obedience were crucial to a Christian life. He financially partnered with various ministries, funding up to 15 individual missionaries at one point. Many of those he'd never met, but he gave generously and prayed faithfully. That's how we met. Actually, we never met. I got his name from a friend in 2006, wrote him a letter and gave him a phone call, and he began partnering me in ministry for a generous amount...especially for being perfect strangers. So far, everything he touched seemed to be blessed by God---great kids, work, family. And it was only months after I crossed this man's path that his whole life started to fall apart.
He came home one day and his wife had been giving him the cold shoulder. That wasn't abnormal, but this seemed to go on longer than normal. When he asked her what was up, she replied, "I've been living a lie. I don't love you, and I don't think I ever will."
His world started to crumble. Next, the subsidiary he had helped grow finally sold, and he was promptly replaced by a new C.O.O.. He noted that if his marriage hadn't been falling apart, it would have been incredibly devastating, but in the sober reality of what was truly important, the loss of this job and seeming betrayal of a company he had help succeed was simply background noise. He was devastated. He and his wife cohabitated for a while until she decided to leave and divorce him. That was nine years ago.
And with those blue, genuine, worn eyes, he looked at me and said, "I hold out hope that God will restore our marriage. I still love her and I will stand in the gap for my marriage." At this point, tears began to fill up both sets of eyes.
The man has patiently, prayerfully waited for 9 years for a wife who left him, who refuses to talk with him, and who wants nothing to do with him. And he will continue to wait until she returns, Christ returns, or calls him home.
The world says, "Why are you waiting? She left you. You deserve to be happy and find someone else." But he says, "That's not what Christ has done for me. The Bible says that a husband is to love his wife like Jesus loves the church. Jesus loved me when I was an enemy, when I was mocking him, denying him, ignoring him, disregarding him, and nailing him to a cross. He didn't say, 'We'll, he left me so I guess I'll leave him.' No, he met us in our sin and he pursued us to the point of death on a cross. So I will wait and plead and love her, even when she refuses me and ignores my love. And I will do this because it is just a fraction of the way Christ has loved me. That is what I am called to do. And God will continue to give me the grace to love her and wait for her."
And that's how I saw Jesus today. In a man who chooses to wear his wedding ring 9 years after his wife left him because he made a vow before a holy God. A man who is committed to following what Christ commands, even though it is arduous, uncomfortable, and longsuffering, because he believes suffering in obedience will result in the glory of Christ and the words "Well done, good and faithful servant" when he gives an account for how he lived his life. I saw a man who has taken the unpopular route and has said that the point of life isn't just to be happy, but to find true joy in sharing in both the blessings and sufferings of Christ. I saw a tangible picture of Jesus' love for me. A love that denies itself, that puts aside its own desires, and says, "Whatever the cost, I want you restored to me."
Today I got a glimpse of how the body of Christ is supposed to live our their faith with fear and trembling. And in watching him go through his pain and suffering with joy, hope, and patient endurance and obedience, I found a little more courage to stride out my own journey. And I hope you do, too.
Comments