Seeing Jesus

When I was young, I thought I knew exactly what Jesus looked like. After all, I saw Him every day whenever I looked at some pictures in my bedroom. One showed Jesus knocking at a door and the other depicted Him as a Shepherd with His sheep.

What I didn't know was that a meredecade before I was born, those pictures of Jesus didn't exist. Warner Sallman painted the well-known "Head of Christ" and the other potraits of Jesus in the 1940s. Those images were just one man's idea of what Jesus might have looked like.

The Bible never gives a physical description of Jesus. Even the men who saw Him every day didn;s tell us what HE looked like. In fact, the only clue we have is a passage in Isaiah that says: "There is no beauty that we should desire Him" (53:2).It seems that Jesus' human form was deliberately de-emphasized. He looked like an ordinary man. People weren't drawn to Him because of a regal appearance but because of what He said and did and because of the message of love He came to give (John 3:16).

But the next time Jesus comes to earth, it will be different. When our Savior returns, we will recognize Him as the soverign King of kings and Lord of lords! (1 Tim. 6:14-15). -- Cindy Hess Kasper

The more I see His beauty,

The more I know His grace,

The more I long, unhindered,

To gaze upon His face. --Anon

To see Jesus will be heaven's greatest joy

Gone With The Wind

The epic film based on Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone With the Wind opens with these lines:

"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. . . . Look for it only in the books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind."

Not only does a way of life disappear but also the dreams that drice the main characters. Throughout the Civil War, Scarlett O'Hara is preoccupied with her love for Ashley Wilkes. But by story's end, she is disillusioned.

Solomon saw the futility of seeking satisfaction in people and things. Despite amassing wealth and knowledge, completing great projects, and marrying many wives, he said, "All is vanity and grasping for the wind" (Eccl. 1:14).

Why does chasing transitory things leaves us unfulfilled? The biblical answer is that we were created to find our ultimate fulfillment in God. Jesus promised, "I have come that they may have life. and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

People and things coem and go. But the spiritual satisfaction Christ offers sustains us in this world and wil endure into eternity. --Dennis Fisher

What cmoes from man will never last,

It's here today, tomorrow past;

What comes from God will always be

The same for all eternity! --Spencer

Invest your life in what pays eternal dividends.

Waiting For Joy

A large part of life centers around anticipation. How much we would lose if we were to wake up one day to the unexpected announcement:"Christmas in 10 minutes!" The enjoyment in many of life's events is built on the fact that we have time to anticipate them.

Christmas, vacations, mission trips, sporting events. All grow in value because of the hours we spend looking forward of them--eagerly running through our minds the fun, challenges, and excitement they'll bring.

I think about the value of anticipation and the thrill it can bring to the human heart when I read Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." The psalmist is declaring the comforting idea that our earthly sorrow lasts but a short time when compared with the anticipated joy that will begin in heaven and lasts forever. Paul pens a similar idea in 2 Corinthians 4:17, where we discover that our "light affliction" leads to a glory of eternal value.

For now, those of us who weep can dwell on hope instead of hopelessness and anticipation instead of sorrow. It may be nighttime in our hearts, but just ahead lies the dawn of eternity. And with it, God promises the endlesss joy of heavenly morning. --Dave Branon

Tribulation, grief, and sorrow

Are but heaven's steppingstones

To a bright and glad tomorrow

Where no heartache can be known. --Glass

We can endure this life's trials

because of the next life's joys.