Quite a Bunch - The Christian Online Magazine

the deep, deep love of Jesus/Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a might ocean/In its fullness over me…”

-- S. Trevor Francis

We’re “quite a bunch,” aren’t we? Pristine, gracious, friendly. At peace. Spirit-led. Joint-heirs with Jesus. We may give up our pew to a newcomer, shake hands with a stranger and invite visiting guests to Sunday lunch. At a distance, we may glitter and glow like an Olympic gold medal. But when the Sunday sermon ends? What’s the story Monday through Saturday?

During the week that pristine, serene Sunday exterior is often just that – an exterior. A façade that hides hurricane howls of rage, a bitterness-corroded soul or a tongue with a barbed-wire bite. The “Sunday go-to-meetin’” veneer may hide sloth. Complacency. A freeze-dried heart. Ditto envying, in-fighting or insincerity that would turn Kermit the Frog chartreuse.

Weekdays may include yelling at our kids, cheating on our taxes, stabbing a co-worker in the back to get ahead, and saying things we wish we hadn’t. We may sandwich our lives with a thick slice of self-righteous myopia topped off with hypocrite gravy, wrapped with the cellophane fear of discovery.

The truth of the story is, we’re nobody’s trophy. But just as every Story has its Villain, this one also has its Hero.

There’s a powerful, poignant line from James Fenimore Cooper’s epic romance, The Last of the Mohicans. The hero, Nathaniel, says to his lover, Cora: “I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far—I will find you.”

And that’s exactly what our Hero, the Great Lover, does. He will find me. He can and does come for me. For my Heart and yours. Over and over and over. The Lord Jesus Christ sees right through our feeble attempts to cloak our sin-soaked selves with pristine-pure pretense. He shines His Truth into our lives, revealing every hidden agenda, disingenuous motive, darkest secret, reeking resentment, and deepest shame. We may fool others, but the Great Lover? Not a chance. He knows it all – and still He comes. No matter how long it takes. No matter how far. His love will find us.

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus/ Love of ev’ry love the best!

‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing/ ‘Tis a haven sweet of rest

O the deep, deep love of Jesus/’Tis a heav’n of heavn’s to me;

And it lifts me up to glory/ For it lifts me up to Thee!”

Washed. Redeemed. Loved with an everlasting love by the Greatest Lover of all. Now that’s a story to sing about!