I sat in a crowded café’ of the old city, Jerusalem comforted by the sound of boiled water being poured over fresh mint twigs and the arising aroma, which carefully made its way to my pallet. Sipping after-dinner tea, I quietly observed my surroundings in a mix of local and touristy company. Oddly, I felt at home listening to the downpour of rain beating on cobblestone pavement just outside the open entrance where cool damp air mingled with my steamy cup of goodness.
Being the only woman at a table full of ministers from around the world, I thought about my mother’s longing to travel and serve the globe with her missionary heart, but her time had come and gone.
Then I thought about my sheltered upbringing and how much I really still had to learn from the spiritual generals that now surrounded me about the world, it’s global cultures and our relevance here.
People are people wherever you go. They have the same desire for love, acceptance and identity regardless of their values and language barriers, which is evident in the laughter and tears flowing genuinely and universally among us.
My mother had a unique gift of communication with people of all nations and she understood something beyond the walls of our cultural differences simply because her heart was so full of the love of Jesus. Somehow I seemed to miss the element of human commonality in my shallow youthful perceptions of the world until I was delivered from the fears, which had kept me from experiencing the kind of love for people that Jesus has given me.
One Without The Other is Incomplete
The bible exhorts us not to love in word or talk but in deed and truth in 1John 3:18. But too often our best efforts lean toward one or the other, unable to pinpoint the error of our ways. We cannot have love without truth as much as we cannot have truth without love. They are one and the same as they are the heart of Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He came to bring love and dignity to our human existence by restoring us to the Father, but as He did so He exposed the lies that continue to bind us.
Love without truth is an inferior human love based in emotion and unequipped to change the atrocities of this world while truth without the love of God is judgmental and without mercy – equally inefficient. We are promised in God’s word that Love never fails and it conquers all. This kind of power lies in the complete and total immersion of love and truth, which can only be ours for the giving and receiving through Christ, His Son.
The Mirror of God’s Glory
The most effective assault on the human identity is the lie of the enemy, which clouds our self-perception. We cannot love others if we are filtering our own self worth through the lens of fear and false bravado and the only way to love ourselves is to see ourselves as Christ sees us.
We will only see ourselves in the light of truth and love as we come to Him with an unveiled face (total honesty and humility) allowing Him to show us every bit of truth about ourselves. It is here that we see the blind spots that hinder our journey and gain desire for inward change. It is here that we repent and become more dependent on Him as we recognize our lack of understanding and realize the vastness of His infinite love!
And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 AMP
The Moment of Truth
Will you heed the call of Jesus as He beckons you toward the mirror of His Glory? Will you dare to stand courageous and honestly naked before Him, ready to see yourself as He sees you and be clothed in His radiance? If your answer is yes, you will forever be changed as you look into His Glory with unveiled face and accept the correction about who you are and who you are not.
The good, the bad and the ugly, which you’ve tried to fix with finite reasoning, are waiting to be redefined by the love and truth of your Savior, Jesus. The King of Kings came low to meet you at the place of your need so that He could crown you with His glory and dignity forever!