Jesus Stayed

Hello Everyone!

I pray all of you are doing well and that all of you have been intentional about your Lenten journey this year. It is in this time of Lent that we break down the ego, the pride, the barriers, that have kept us from experiencing the fullness of Christ in our lives. We take the time to shed the sins that have kept us from growing into mature Christians and seek the redeeming power of Christ's grace in the newness He brings.

I would like to share with you a story from Malcolm Muggeridge's book Something Beautiful for God that has been challenging me this week as I journey with Jesus.

I ran away and stayed away; Mother Teresa moved in and stayed. That was the difference. She, a nun, rather slightly built, with a few rupees in her pocket; not particularly clever, or particularly gifted in the arts of persuasion. Just with this Christian love shining about her; in her heart and on her lips. Just prepared to follow her Lord, and in accordance with his instructions regard every derelict left to die in the streets as him; to hear in the cry of every abandoned child, even in the tiny squeak of the discarded fetus, the cry of the Bethlehem child; to recognize in every leper's stumps the hands which once touched sightless eyes and made them see, rested on distracted heads and made them calm, brought back health to sick flesh and twisted limbs. As for my expatiations on Bengal's wretched social conditions - I regret to say that I doubt whether, in any divine accounting, they will equal one single quizzical half smile bestowed by Mother Teresa on a street urchin who happened to catch her eye.

As I shared this with the staff of the church this week, Pastor Emily pointed out the part at the begining which said, "she stayed". I have been thinking about that act all week. How, in the midst of the mire and muck, the nastiness, the death, the disease, the condemnation - she stayed.

My high spiritual opinion of myself would lead me to think that I would stay, too. But then again, I have trouble staying with people that talk bad about me or people I don't agree with. I struggle with staying with people who have a bad attitude or those who can only find something to complain about. I have trouble staying true to my own promises - to myself and to God. What makes me think, that in all of that human suffering, I would stay?

Here is what I know - Jesus stayed. He came in the midst of human suffering and misguided souls and He stayed. He stayed when the crowds turned against Him and tried to throw Him off a cliff. He stayed when the religious leaders tried to discredit Him. He stayed when His own friend plotted against Him. He stayed when the authorities came to arrest Him. He stayed when they nailed Him to the cross. He stayed. And, He is with us today.

I pray, that as I continue to grow in Christ, He will give me a heart that stays - even when every other fiber of my being wants to leave. That is love that comes from God...when we are willing to stay, even in the midst of suffering because we realize Jesus stayed and continues to be with us.

Loving God, thank you for coming into my life and taking up residence in my heart. Forgive me for running away from time to time. Create within me a heart that stays even when my reaction is to leave. I want my life to honor you, Jesus by loving how You loved and living how You lived. In Your holy name I pray. Amen.