8.27.2010

the face of Christ

i think most of us picture Jesus, as a clean, well-groomed, clothes nicely pressed kind of guy. i mean, He is after all, the Son of God. But the more I get to know the children of God, I am finding that maybe, just maybe, the face of Christ isn't as pristine as I thought.

 Jesus is manifested in the lives of believers all across the world. and a lot of those believers' faces aren't pretty. they are smudged with dirt and filth from the poverty infested lands that they inhabit-they are covered in sores and boils from the diseases that ravage their bodies-they are filled with pain and sorrow from the hardships that they are forced to endure-they are toothless and distorted from the lack of money for medical care-they are sad and lonely from the longing that they have to be loved. this, to me, is a more accurate depiction of the face of Christ.

my heart breaks as i realize how far off base i have been when thinking about my Savior. those gleaming, squeaky clean, million dollar faces are not at all what Jesus represented. He stood for the poor, the unlovely, the meek, the downcast, the rejected, the hurting people of the world. so why don't i?

my focus has been redirected. as i seek to become closer to Christ, i realize that i need to become closer to the people that He healed, comforted, and loved. i want my face to look like His.

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