Saturday, 25 February 2012

• Unwrapping Love: What Attracts You To Jesus?

  By Bonnie at Faith Barista

  When you are quiet and at rest, do you visualize yourself with Jesus? What is He like and what is it that attracts you to Him?

  I don’t know why he appears to me this way.
  But he does.

  He’s usually sitting by a creek,
  On a boulder, with room left for me.

  He doesn’t say a word,
  but His quiet isn’t silence.

  His quiet is kindness.
  He has no expectations.

  He is happy that I am there.
  

  I walk over to sit next to him.
  Sometimes, he holds my hand.
  Sometimes, he wraps his arm around me.

  We listen to the water trickling by.

  I don’t have to say a word.
  He knows everything that has happened to me,
  He knows how it’s shaped me,

  He knows how to reach me.

  There are so many reasons to be attracted to Jesus. Throughout time, songs have been sung, poems have been penned about the wonderful ways of Jesus.  But when it comes down to it, knowing Jesus is really a love story.

  How did yours begin and how is continuing to be written?

  One Quality

  No matter how much time has passed, it seems there is one quality about Jesus that continues to draw me close to him.

  It’s not because He is powerful.

  It’s not because He is holy.

  All of this is true.

  But for me, I’ve come to trust him because of this…

  Jesus is acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3)

  The Hebrew word for acquainted is “yada” meaning –

  to know by experience

  to see and perceive

  Jesus could have chosen to distinguish himself by charm, intellect, or riches.

  But, He chose an attribute that everybody else would rather forget, hide and avoid.

  He chose to know through personal experiencethe things that cause us to feel small, overlooked and alone.  He felt sadness, loss, loneliness, and disappointment.

  That is why I’m attracted to Jesus.

  Familiar

  He isn’t afraid of weakness.  He is drawn with tenderness to me and loves me right through it.

  There are no problems so enduring that it would tire him of me.

  There is no difficulty that would cause him to be impatient with me.

  Nothing that can drive him away.

  He is familiar with all my ways. It’s in that intimacy that he loves me and he died for me.

  “He will not quarrel or cry out;
  no one will hear his voice in the streets.
  A bruised reed he will not break,
  and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (Isaiah 42:3)

  His grief makes him gentle, kind, and compassionate.  He isn’t loud or out for attention.  He is attentive.

  Joy

  A person understands grief is also someone who treasures joy.

  Because Jesus is familiar with grief, I beam when he tells me, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).

  It thrills my heart to hear him say this because it means seeds of joy are being planted  alongside the ones sown in tears.

  Jesus knows the hunger for joy that sorrow leaves in its wake.

  Jesus is Living Water that –
  

  refreshes my heart to laugh with a friend who visits for a bit,

  sigh with contentment over a lazy day,

  squeal like a child as I point out a violet sunset to my children.

  Jesus is here for us, so that we can find companionship with each other on this journey together.

  His acquaintance with grief says our world can always be new again, friends. 

  He’s given us His heart, pouring it broken, in exchange for you and me.
  
  
  ~~~~~

  How do you imagine being with Jesus?

  What is one quality that attracts you to Jesus today?

  

  

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