Christian Living

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“The people God wants to love and appeals to, to come unto Him, might not see Him; our faces stand in the way!”

Jesus, in Mathew 11:28, Isaiah 61:1-3 and Luke 4:18 makes us know that He came into the world to, unconditionally, love those who are heartbroken and, indeed, wants their love in return.

But there’s a problem. They know He’s capable of doing what He promises. But when they don’t receive what they think He’s promised, they start to doubt. They question whether He’s worth trusting. There’re many instances that questions God’s fairness to His own people: Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2Cor 12:7-9) and Timothy’s constant stomach problem and illnesses (1Tim 5:23), not to mention the fore-runner of pain- Job.

God says the righteous shall eat the fruit of the land. Why, then, does it seem that it’s the unrighteous that eat the best fruits? Why is God not checking this situation?

How often do we feel like Job! Feeling innocent, Job asked God “does it please you to oppress me, while you smile on the wicked?”... And went on to challenge God’s sovereignty: “…Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those a man, that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin- though you know that I am not guilty and that know one can rescue me from your hand? (Job 10:3-7).

Why would a loving God promise us good only for Him to be selective in discharging that good? Why can’t all benefit in the good that He does everyday? Why should some be saying “God is good” and others can’t but look on, wondering whether that is true (or fair) of a loving God?

This is where our faces stand in the way. By ‘our faces’, I mean the church. Some churches would only tell people, who go through painful circumstances, that if only they could have enough faith their problems would be solved. Yet, Jesus only says a little faith (“like a mustard seed”) is all that’s needed to move a mountain.

Some churches even beliefs that testimonies build the faith of the broken hearted. So they encourage them to rejoice with those testifying, whereas, in many cases, no one mourns or go through their pains with them. Yet these are the people that Christians are actually sent to- if they must be like Jesus.

Testimonies are good (I’m not in any way against it) in that it celebrates and appreciates God’s goodness and loving kindness to us, His children. This is what it can and should be to us (see Acts 4:21b). But only love, true love, and not testimony, can build man’s faith. (See Acts 14:8-19; 22:1-22). Physical miracles die with man, but the gospel of God’s love defines eternity.

This is why I agree with the writer who once wrote that: “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Jesus was seen showing love to the woman caught in the act of adultery, dinning with tax collectors and sinners, and pitching His tents with the poor. However this way was so unexpected, to the Israelites, was a Messiah that’s to come, Jesus cared less; for knew who and what He was called to, anyway. And these way brought about faithfulness from these set of people, as recorded by the disciples.

Jesus knew that testifying about His wonders and miracles wouldn’t be enough to draw men unto Him, so, He often told those He healed, in His days on earth, never to mention it to anyone- though they did (see Mat 9:30, 12:16, 16:20, and 17:9 etc.) The command for silence was also, I believe, probably meant to prevent His miracles from becoming the central focus of how people respond to His ministry.

I don’t think that Jesus's miracles is what made the beneficiaries return testify and/0r give thanks to God. I believe the sense of having Jesus single him out among many, like them, makes them owesomely joyful that they can't but tell of it. Nothing else matter to them as long as they are convinced that God love them.

If testimonies about Jesus’ healing power were enough to build the faith of men, then He shouldn’t have been rejected the way He was. For we could see, from the bible, that many of the people who heard (or saw) all the miraculous deeds of the Lord, were later seen to be shouting: “crucify him!”

Let’s take His disciples, for example. They were with Him everyday and all the times he performed miracles. But, Judas later betrayed Him; Peter, who was supposed to be the patriarch of His gospel, denied Him three times, at a time when his loyalty to his master was required; Thomas never believed Jesus resurrected- until he could touch and feel the palm that was nailed to the tree. And Jesus responded to Thomas’ doubt that blessed are those that have not seen but believed.

Jesus had to appear to His disciples (who had put aside the commission Jesus, their master, gave to them, and went back to their respective professions) on the beach and demand their fidelity toward Him before they could change their mind to honor their master’s commission unto them.

In fact, I believe God learnt, from His experience with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and with the Israelites in the wilderness, that His power (by giving them all they wanted and cried for) wasn’t enough to enforce the kind of faith He expects from man. So, when man failed Him in this first order, He opted for another (pre-planned) option- the best option: ‘to suffer with His creatures.’ He came, in Jesus Christ, to accomplish this. And through ‘suffering-with’ Jesus brought true love into the world. And with true love, faith abounds. Jesus proved this.

The Christianity Jesus left to us, is nothing but a practical way of life and not some selective doctrines or religious sentiments. To be like Him, we must do like Him, as He did while on earth. The world don’t see Jesus, or God, it sees our faces. If the people of the world wants to know how God feels about them or about what they go through, they should know that by how we respond to them at those instances. That’s why we’re Christians.

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