Sunday, October 23, 2011

Reflect Jesus Outward

Then Jesus prayed this prayer:

“O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike.” - Matthew 11:25

Yesterday I heard a woman talk with disdain because someone had recommended her to give a talk about God. Seriously. She was totally put out because a woman had called and ask her to speak to a group of nursing home residents.

I really couldn’t believe what I heard. I tried to understand. Okay. Someone heard her speak, loved it, and told someone else that she was wonderful. How could she be offended by that? Except she was. I heard it for myself.

I realized later that I should have tactfully given her a lesson in how to decline gracefully but, honestly, I was too shocked. She could easily have smiled, thanked the person for the compliment and simply said it wasn’t something she was interested in doing. Everyone would have been happy. No one would have been offended. Well, I guess she was offended but did she really need to make sure everyone around her knew?

The thing that I don’t understand is how we can talk about God’s love, and Christ’s sacrifice, about what it means to be a Christian, and then totally ignore it in our daily lives. It’s like we can be all nice and sweet and, well, Christian, when we want to be and when we don’t, we just do and say whatever we want. We don’t even seem to care about the feelings of other people. We don’t seem to remember that others see -- or don’t see -- Jesus reflected outward from us.

Maybe she’d had a bad morning. Maybe she’d had a bad week. I have no idea. I simply know that a number of people will never look at her the same way again. And I know that’s a sad thing. Because she is a nice person and, I believe, she does love Jesus so much.

I also know that some who are new in faith or maybe just beginning to seek God’s love, will step back and ask questions. If that’s how a longtime Christian behaves, why should other people give their lives to Jesus? What’s the difference between a Christian and just another person only concerned with himself? You and I know but can others see what we have, can they see Jesus living within us, by our words and actions?

I know I could probably take this woman aside and speak to her, but she’d probably just get defensive. Most of us would. We don’t see our own flaws because we’re so busy looking at the flaws of others. And we all have them.

So I’ll pray for her and hand it over to God. And I’ll pray for those she hurt and those who heard something that really didn’t reflect Jesus. Our Savior is kind and compassionate. He reached out to everyone, using words with care. Jesus drew people to Him with love. He taught us many things we need to remember as we live our daily lives. Jesus taught us to love first. Funny how everything falls into place when we follow His teaching.