King Jesus

March 24, 2009 
​(Facebook note written while attending Central Christian College of the Bible)

With Easter approaching I wanted to share a note I wrote on Facebook 7 years ago. 

Dear Friend, 

Tonight I went out to the soccer field to pray and get away from the world. To sit in the grass, just my Maker and I. It's these times that I feel the most pure and transparent, the most me. As I am still before God, pouring out my heart before Him (Psalm 62:8) I'm often faced with the layers that I've created and were not intended by Him. How easy it is to place layers over my person hood! To live less real. To go through the normal motions. 

I began to long for Jesus to be sitting beside me and wondered what it would feel like...how I would act...would I be at ease? Would I be trying to impress? Could I look him in the eyes? And I thought, "Oh Jesus, how I wish you were here with me in flesh. How nice it would be to sit beside you. To hear your gentle wise voice, see your knowing smile, your compassionate eyes, your laugh lines and crinkles..." As I was pondering this and praying for faith until the day of his return, the clouds began to leave and the stars were revealed in the sky. It struck me: Jesus is coming back any day! It's not some fable or fairy tale. He is our risen King and thus far all God's promises have been kept! 

When I was a little girl, every Sunday morning I would look down the aisle to see if Jesus was walking down it. I always thought I would see Him because I knew that he said He was coming back soon, and of COURSE it must be a Sunday he would come back on, lol. But it was such a beautiful, pure excitement every Sunday to expect to see Jesus...And now I wonder where that anticipation has gone to? It's so easy to go through the motions of the Christian walk without the actual goal in sight. Is that why I sometimes feel so lacking in joy? I'm not looking into the sky for Jesus...for it must be another thousand years before He'll return...or so that's how I often live. 

The Jews were looking for the promised Savior, and there was at least a period of 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments when God wasn't necessarily working in obvious ways. Still, they had the prophecies. They had God's promises. They were expecting their Savior in the form of an attractive political Messiah, and what they got was the son of a carpenter with an agenda completely outside of politics or cultural tradition. An agenda not even his own, but the Will of his Father. 

Are we looking for the promised return of our King? Perhaps it sometimes feels silly to talk about our King Jesus because to the world it is nonsense and fairy tales. Jesus tells of the ten virgins, who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were not ready, but five of them were. They all grew tired at the delay of the bridegroom and allowed themselves to get drowsy, eventually falling asleep. The problem was that only the five virgins had taken oil for their lamps. And at midnight there was a shout, "Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Of course at this all of the virgins awoke. The ones without oil had to go look for someone to buy from, and while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.... 

My point is this: what if every morning you or I arose to anticipate Jesus coming back? If our focus was getting ready to meet him? To invite all we could to get ready to meet him? Perhaps we would walk with less complaints about our lives, and walk in more hope of knowing that Jesus hasn't forgotten about us. Perhaps we would walk in more abundant joy because our trials are part of preparing for the Neverending Celebration that is to come... 

Praise be to God who came to our rescue that we might have the hope that we do!

---