Antiques Road Show

I saw an old friend this week, a friend that I hadn’t seen in nearly 20 years, not since shortly after our college days. We had a long and easy-going, enjoyable chat. It was genuinely good to just be with him. We weren’t even all that close in college, but there is something about the people that you know in those years. It’s a connection that seems to need no maintenance to still be effective. The day after we met, he and I exchanged emails. At one point he wrote rather candidly that he was “Struck by the transformation…that the Holy Spirit had done in me.” I just can’t even wrap my head and heart around that. "Me?" A wretch, to borrow a well worn line. It seems that most of the time I fight with myself over my desire to put forth a fraud, the version of myself that I think the world will be impressed by. I ache to be strong enough to grant God full access to me and let him present the version of me that he wants. That someone else could see Christ’s spirit represented in me is overwhelming and humbling. Why Jesus would choose me, or to choose us to contain his glory, to represent the advancement of his kingdom is absurd. It is the exact reason why it is so hard to reconcile being a follower of Christ in a world that hates him, neither the believer nor the non-believer can fully accept that Christ chose us. I don't understand it, but I must believe it because I have lived out and witnessed the transformation that happens in the acceptance of his great love.

My friend seeing something that valuable in me, a wretch, reminds me of watching Antiques Road show. An old lady brings out some rusty old lamp that her husband had insisted on keeping all these years. He’s passed on and she can’t bring herself to throw it away, so she wants to see what it’s worth. She is dismissive, but the appraiser is quivering. As the appraiser unfolds the story of the lamp, the old lady gets weaker and weaker. He tells the story of how the lamp was made, who it was made by and the journey this little lamp has made. Though it seems dark and busted and unworthy of display, it’s maker is actually very proud of it. At the end of the appraisal the Antiques Road show crew gently puts an antique bulb in and plugs in the lamp. The room darkens a bit and they turn on the lamp. The lamp is transformed as the light pours through the delicate and intricate design. The maker, the story and the light transform this piece into something priceless. By the time the appraiser gives an estimated value, the woman can’t even stand. And that is how I felt this morning when I read my friend’s email. Dear Jesus, thank you for rescuing me and allowing me to carry your spirit within me. I can’t focus on how much I do not deserve your favor and fortune, I can only act out of the Love that you have shown me and tell the Good News that that Love is available to all.

2 Corinthians 4: 

5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Matthew 10:

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b]30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Help!

We ask God for help.  We are taught to ask God for help.  It seems right to ask God for help.  However, most often what we ask for is so small and so short sided.  If we had access to a great chef, yet asked for an egg sandwich because we were really hungry, we would be fed, but not enriched.  Better than asking for sustenance is asking for the chef himself, saying "Teach me!"

Deuteronomy 8:3
"3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."
 

Also, when we only ask for his help and not Jesus himself, we imply that we have things figured out, we have our plan, we merely need his help in executing it.  Asking for Jesus himself is a means of surrendering that he is all.

In Luke 10, Martha asks for help,


“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”And Jesus answers her, "but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a]Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”


Mary chose better.  Mary chose Jesus.


The Prodigal Son, as we know by now chose wrong.  He basically said to his father, "I would rather have your riches than you!"  He went and spent those riches and was left empty.  He realized then that merely being in the presence of his father would be better than anything he could want.  He was humbled enough to finally realize that he didn't need his fathers riches (because he was too foolish to enjoy them) he needed the goodness of his father, a father that provides for those that seek him.  The son came back home, just to be near his father and his father did what our heavenly Father does when we seek him: embarrass us with the bounty of his Love.

I helped my daughter as we were climbing trees recently.  We found a beautiful tree with all the branches lined up just so.  You could just see that it was going to be a great tree to climb.  The problem was that the first branch was just out of reach.  So, my girl needed my help.  I boosted her up so she could reach the first branch.  Once she got up there she took off quickly up in the tree.  We do this to God sometimes.  We ask him to get us where we want to go and then once we are on our way, we leave him behind.  Well, until we get too high or too stuck or too far to get down.  And in our desperation we look to find him waiting, just like I was waiting for my girl, watching the whole time, patient and waiting and ever so excited when she called on my name and was back in my arms. 

Martha seems righteous in her complaint, but we realize that she has her eyes only on the smallest of matters and is missing the better portion.  The better spot is to be at Jesus' feet, like Mary.  The son went too far, and yet was received with joyous celebration when he returned.  He wasn't returning for his father's help, he was returning for his father.  What a patient Father we have, knowing that we ask for the wrong things and granting us access to the fullness of his love when we finally say "Jesus, I need you!"