What are the images of Jesus that I see when I think of Him? I see a teacher on the hillside, instructing men and women on how to live, I see a man welcoming children to sit with Him, I see a man enduring all sorts of pain and punishment and dying without complaint, and I see a healer. These are correct of course, but they are not all.
Chambers devotion today focuses on Jesus as the assured, purposeful leader of men. A man on a mission that no one can deny. All we can see is His back as He strides in front of us. The destination is unknown, and all we can do is follow.
I want to see Jesus as a different type of leader. I want to see a teacher dropping pearls of wisdom around me so that I will know how to live each day. I want to be able to sit down and talk about these things, and how they affect my life. Then I want to be able to sit and ponder about what He said. I want to sit by my fire and contemplate morality, and the meaning of my life.
How different is the Man of Chambers reading. There is no time to talk, there is action to take. There is a mission out there somewhere that He is leading me to. He is leading from the front, not walking alongside and explaining it to me. All I need to do is follow faithfully, but what I really want to do is sit and think about it. No, what I really want to do most of the time is do my own thing without any regard for Him at all.
I want Jesus to lead in my life, but I want Him to tell me the whys, wheres, hows and whens ahead of time.
I remember flying in Alaska (actually Mayre is flying, I am looking out the window at nothing), when all we could follow was the radio beacon, following a heading on the instruments. No time to think only follow. No fun!
I want to follow Jesus' back as He leads in front of me, but a lot of the time I can't make Him out ahead of me in the fog of life. I say I will follow Him if I can see Him, but will I really, or just stay back by the fire and think about it, or forget about Him entirely?
God help me.
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