Let me ask you; How would you describe yourself?
Really?
Okay, how would you describe Jesus?
Were there similar words you used for both?
Loving, caring, perfect, faithful, passionate…that’s some of the words I use to describe Jesus.
For whatever reason the writers of the books from the New Testament didn’t see a need to give much of a physical description of the most important man in history – was he tall, was he short, was he skinny, fat, balding, had big ears and a long nose? Come on guys, what did he look like? The truth is, we know very little of how he looked, but I think the Bible did say something to the effect; He wasn’t much to look at, and had a dark complexion; but that’s about it, as far as I recall.
The way we describe Jesus comes from what we draw from the stories we’ve read or have been told. It comes from our personal experiences with him, as he lives in our hearts even today. How He's stuck with us at times when it didn't seem practical. Although so little is known about the physical looks of the man that gives life to lyrics such as these, does it matter?
God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.
Now let me ask you, how would others describe you? How would you describe me? Would the same words that we use to describe Jesus come to mind if our friends were pressed to describe us? We would like to think so, now wouldn’t we?
If you were asked to describe your spouse, best friend, or favorite sibling; would you describe their physical features or talk about the message and the impact they’ve had on your life and others?
I recently was asked to be a character witness for a person in a federal trial on a criminal firearms charge. Have you ever had to do that? Yeah, me neither before now! What do I say? How do I describe a person’s character that I actually know very little about? The only reason I know him is because I bonded him out on the charge of manufacturing meth about a year ago. That’s not usually a good start to a new friendship, now is it? After his dad put up a down payment for his bail I had him sign an agreement to pay me a certain amount of money over a certain period of time exactly as he insisted he could do while he was behind bars calling me every other day. But did he? NO! Did he even come close to upholding his commitment to me? NO! Am I really the one they want testifying to this man’s character? NO! Am I still a bit angry and frustrated because this guy lied to me, cheated me out of money, and took advantage of my willingness to help him? YES!
It would be much easier for me to describe this guy’s physical appearance than to describe his character. I could do that without much thought, but that’s not exactly what they want me to testify to. So I’m forced to look for the “good” in him that I’ve come to see over the past year. The truth is, there’s little that I’ve witnessed or heard from him that I believe to be sincere and true. Oh sure, I’ve heard a lot of stuff I highly suspect he thinks I want to hear, but quite honestly I don’t know that I believe much of it. For instance, he checked himself into a drug rehab center a couple of months ago, yet I believe it was more out of desperation to “appear” to be doing the right thing before the court, rather than really reaching a point where he wants to stop doing drugs. That’s just my opinion though – I hope I’m wrong.
After I got him out of jail on the drug charges, he immediately went right back to using drugs, but that didn’t surprise me. He even told me as I was taking him home, after spending nine months in jail free of drugs that he had no intentions of stopping. I remember thinking, geez buddy at least lie about it until you get out of my car, come on.
As time went by he couldn’t get or keep a job mainly because he kept failing drug tests or background checks. So week after week, month after month went by and I received no payments from him. Quite honestly I should have put him back in jail a long time ago, but I didn’t. You see, I don’t blame him for the situation nearly as much as I do myself. If I get someone like him out of jail (a jobless, long standing crack and meth addict who was “caught” making his own deadly mixture of drain cleaner, battery acid, antifreeze, and sinus medicine) and expect him to be reliable, trust worthy, and an upstanding citizen - then really, can I blame anyone other than myself when it doesn’t happen?
So why would I be willing to testify as a witness to his “character”? I had to think about that myself for a bit and finally I concluded, isn’t that what Jesus did? Didn’t he try and see the good in those around him? Wasn’t that part of His message to us? How many of His parables included Samaritans, and other despised people in the eyes of the Jews. Just look at the guys he chose to be His disciples. Tax collectors, fishermen, unemployed, unwanted by other Rabis, liars, deniers, fearful - come on, not exactly the cream of the crop here. But, to Him he saw something in each one that led him to believe he could entrust them to spread his message long after his departure. Look at those He’s chosen to be his followers today - people like you and I. So why look for the good in this guy, I guess because it shows Christ in me I’ve concluded!
So let’s see now;
Okay, I know this, he really loves his girlfriend. She got caught along with him on the manufacturing charge and has been serving a rehab sentence in the northern part of the state. And even though he didn’t ever have any money to pay me, he regularly found a way to go visit her, give her money to help pay her bills, etc. So in short, he loves her more than he loves his own freedom, for surely he had to know there was a chance, (even a slight one) that he could go back to jail if he didn’t pay me. So, he’s very loyal to those he loves. There’s one!
Since he couldn’t pay me in cash, I’ve tried to have him do some work around the house and office to pay off his debt. Whether it was resealing windows, hanging storm doors, putting up fencing, planting trees, whatever - he always seemed to take particular care in doing the job right. I’ve never known him to take short cuts just to get the job done faster. So, number two – he’s conscientious about the quality of his work efforts.
Over the past year he and I have had a lot of conversations about God and I’ve come to know that he really does want to know God more, and he really does want a personal relationship with Christ. He’s just like most of us at one time or another, he struggles to let go of the things that keeps us from turning our lives over to serving God, rather than simply knowing, or talking about God. Number three - he has a heart that’s still tender enough it longs to be reunited with its maker. It may not seem like it on the surface, but that’s a biggie!
He respects and loves his dad, this I fully believe. I see a lot of me and my son, in him and his dad’s relationship. I guess that’s partially why I keep hanging on with him. I don’t want to see their story come crashing down. Deep down, I keep hoping for a happy ending for them, us. I need that hope! He truly loves his Pop - number four.
And that’s really about it! Is it enough to make a difference before a Federal judge, I don’t know. Do these things add up to what society would call “good character” I guess they do, if you didn’t know about all the other ‘stuff” in his life. Just like Jesus does with us, I call this man my friend, for how could I not - when you get right down to it, there ain't much difference in the two of us!
You see, for him, just like with me - his message is so much greater than his words, his physical appearance, his past, present, and future. Yet, in comparison, we look at certain people that reach "celebrity" status in our society and we only see “them” and not their message. Thier "persona" becomes bigger than their message. We develop a distorted image of who we think they are because it lacks knowledge of what their message is. That’s all the television shows, magazine covers, news reels show us - how they look, what they’re wearing, where they’re going or coming, etc, etc. It’s usually about the time their fifteen minutes of fame is about to crash and burn before we ever see or hear what their true message is.
Unlike the shallow view we have of the so-called celebrities of this world, our true message, just like the guy I’ve been writing about, stands tall above the person we project to be, just as God’s message of hope through his Son does for us. Read these lyrics again and see exactly what it says about His character.
God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.
Great message of hope, huh? It's not about His, or our physical apperance, it's about the message! So as you go along your way this week, let me suggest this; Look for the good in others, even if it’s hard to see sometimes. Here's a tougher challange for some of us; Look for the good in yourself also, for as I've found, it most likely will come in the form of Christ’s message resounding in your spirit.
Look at God’s message through the story of His Son, and be thankful He cares enough about us to look past the ugly, look past the wrongs we’ve committed, look past all of the bad in our lives, and He still sees some glimmer of hope for us - that He loved us enough He allowed his only Son to die on a cross for us.
That’s a message none of us will ever be bigger than, believer, or non-believer! Doug
