In Bible Study this morning, a new lady joined us. Our Bible Study leader has a way of making everyone feel welcome and special...I imagine she saw her roaming the hall at the church and drug her into our little room. This newbie sat down beside me, coffee and donut in hand. Her appearance was nothing to shout about by the world's standards. Her hair was pulled back in a stringy ponytail and her clothes were dirty and worn. Her face had the look of leather and her cheekbones were sunk in too far. She had the look of someone who knew hardship and sorrow.
I introduced myself and then she gave me her name. All the sudden, she was beautiful to me. She shares the same name as someone in my family; someone who gave me life. Tears sting my eyes as I write this because God revealed something precious to me through this woman. The verses in Isaiah 53 that speak of our Lord were brought to my mind by the Holy Spirit. Here are a few of them from the Message version of the Word:
"The servant (Jesus) grew up before God--a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum."
Perhaps this lady's appearance fairly accurately resembles Christ's appearance while on earth. And Christ is the very image of God. The preciousness of this lady's name made her beautiful in my sight. And, perhaps, one of the reasons Jesus is so beautiful to me is due to His name.
Jesus...Beautiful Savior, Precious Redeemer, Name of all Names, Ha Shem "THE NAME", King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Immanuel "God with us", Yahweh "I AM", El Roi "The God who sees", Jehovah tsidkenu "The Lord our righteousness"....I could go on and on. Revelation 3:12 even alludes to the fact that the saints will know a "new name" of God that will be written on them. I imagine it is a name so glorious and holy that we would fall over dead if we heard it now in our frail human bodies.
More than anything, I love His Name because he gave me life. Abundant life. Eternal life.
Isn't He beautiful? Aren't ALL people created in the image of God just beautiful!
3 comments:
What a well written and sweet post. I thought the same things and I wanted to reach out to her because I felt like she had that worn and weary look. I didn't know if she had been coming already because I saw her from a distance at the festival on Friday. I will email teh invitation to you from my home computer this evening. Good to see you this morning--what and awesome lesson!
What a Beautiful post! How awesome to see people and the world with God's glasses on!! May we ALL be able to do this, especially after tonights numbers are in!!
Thanks for sharing. God is so good, that the word 'good' can't even describe Him. I look forward to knowing that new name.
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