What if Jesus Stinks?

I was sitting in an exam room at the doctor's office recently when I overheard the doctor talking to one of his staff about an unkempt man that had been in the waiting room at the same time we had been. He was asking her to perform an EKG on him, and warned her, "He's really filthy. I don't know when he last had a shower but he smells really REALLY bad, I'm just warning you. He's really stunk up the exam room."

He was talking matter-of-factly, no hint of ridicule or derision in his voice, just stating facts, and she responded just as matter-of-factly. In the waiting room, when the man had come in, the receptionist had had him fill out some paperwork; their conversation indicated that he hadn't seen a doctor in many years and I had been thankful that he'd been able to see one that day.

What if Jesus were alive today? What if He came back just to check up on things? What if that man were Him? Obviously that's not a Biblical idea, when Jesus comes back the whole world will know it; you can hardly miss the sky opening up after all. But this whole incident did make me think.

I have seen "Christians" snub visitors to "their" (as opposed to Christ's) church, even visitors who were well-dressed and smelled fine. I have seen "Christians" address people who serve them in restaurants or other retail venues as if they were less important than themselves. I can't even imagine what these "Christians" would do if the Savior that they worshipped on Sunday mornings showed up for church dressed in tatters and smelling bad.

Jesus Himself told us, "The King will answer them, 'I tell you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.'" (Mt.25:40) and Proverbs 19:17 tells us that "One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed."

As I will embrace my Jesus when I see Him, so need I embrace the "least important", whether lovely, clean, beautiful, and good, or homely, smelly, drunken, and loathesome in the eyes of the world. In so doing, I can embrace Jesus now.

#Easter vs. Easter

For some reason, this year Easter was different for me. Easter didn't mean Easter. I will try to explain...

Whenever I hear the word "Easter" the Holy Spirit quickens in my heart. He reminds me Who Easter is about, and why the day is so significant in the lives of Christians. I just love the celebration of the ultimate victory - the victory over death - that Christ provided to those who will follow Him. There is, really, no greater fear, no greater life-changing event, than death, is there? And to have VICTORY OVER DEATH - well, it nearly boggles the imagination! If you don't really understand it, imagine the tightest football game you've ever attended...the last few seconds and the score is tied, right through to the very last second - then your team scores for the win. Jumping out of your seat, yelling at the top of your lungs...that is the thrill of victory. But it's just a game. Just a little game that, in a few short years, will have absolutely no significance in the grand scheme of life.

But death...death is another story. Victory over death...WOW! We don't have to die! All of my sins - everything I've ever done or ever will do that offends God - were all heaped on the back of the Sinless One, not on mine.

I've heard this described in various ways, most commonly as a book listing every sin in my life. When I leave this earth and come into judgment, and that book is opened by God Himself...all He will see when he looks at those pages is Christ's blood, covering every evidence of the words that had been written there. God won't see my sin - He will only see Christ's blood, covering it...

Another description has been the ledger, where so much is owed that I couldn't possibly repay it, ever. And Christ does. When the book is opened, the balance is 0.

But perhaps the most meaningful in my own heart is the fire. My sins (and those of everyone else in the world) written on stacks of sheets of paper. When I take Christ's work into my own life, those stacks are tossed into that fire. When I look into it, I see not only the pages curling up and burning bright as they turn to ash...I'm seeing my Savior's face, His tortured face, enduring the incredible pain and suffering as He did on earth - not in the fire, but at the hands of the people He loved so much. That degree of suffering - that amount of unbearable torture - just so that my sins can be thrown into that fire and destroyed...because He delights in His children, and wants us to be with Him for all eternity.

There is no fear of death, death has now been conquered when Jesus Himself - the Creator of all that is - rose from its grip and came out of that cold hard tomb. THAT is victory!

With all of this living in my heart, and being at the forefront of my deepest thoughts during the Easter season especially, I am so saddened by the Easter that I see all around me. Bunnies and eggs, painted baby butts in emails, chocolates and hams...is this REALLY all that Easter has become? Is this really all the world has to celebrate? Does this really have meaning to people?

You can have your bunnies and chicks, your baskets and bonnets...I will celebrate my risen Savior who loves me so much that He willingly was tortured, ridiculed, rejected, and killed in the most painful and horrendous way possible - just so that I no longer need fear death, and can spend eternity with Him.