A Story of what has been doen for us

The story you are about to read may be a difficult one, but please
continue reading until the end because there is great revelation to be
taken from it.

My apartment in Buenos Aires is 14 blocks, or a 25 minute walk, from
the office. Every morning and afternoon I walk past a street person
who 'lives' on the pavement outside a church. This person, who I think
is a woman only because she doesn't have any facial hair, is hardly
distinguishable as a human being. She has grimy, matted hair, wears
the same filthy clothes every day, has an horrendous hunchback, and is
just terribly dirty; I don't think she has had a proper bath in
months. The stench is so nauseating that I have to hold my breath when
I walk past her. She sleeps on the sidewalk and surrounding her is her
collection of rubbish – bits and pieces of wood, boxes, plastic bags
and old carpets. Whenever I see her she is sitting, hunched over, in
the dirt, on the cold concrete. Sometimes when I pass by she is luring
some pigeons into a box with some bread crumbs, obviously trying for a
moment to have some kind of company. Other than the abovementioned,
she does nothing except sit.

After witnessing this tragedy daily, I ask myself the question, 'is
this what God wanted for this person to do with her life? What a waste
of a life, this is not the way it was meant to be – to be so lazy and
dirty and broken. She should be out there learning and working and
living and growing.'
And then it struck me that all humans, because of our sin, must appear
to God like that person looks to me – filthy and repulsive and not in
any way doing what we should be doing with our lives. Wow, that is a
tough pill to swallow.

But here is the revelation. Just as that woman is not fit to be
invited into Buckingham Palace to have tea with the Queen, so too are
we not presentable enough to come into God's house or His presence and
dine at His table. Our sin has made us detestable, filthy and
nauseating to God. But He didn't leave us there; he made a plan to get
us off the street – His son Jesus.

To continue with the analogy, as long as we are willing, Jesus comes
and takes us off the street. He takes us to His Father's house – a
great big mansion in the country, surrounded by perfectly manicured
lawns, dotted with century-old trees. There He soaks us in a bath for
2 hours, scrubbing every part of our bodies. He shaves us and cuts our
hair nice and short and brushes out all the knots. He clips our
fingernails and toenails and flosses and brushes our teeth. Once our
bodies are clean He dresses us in a tailored Armani suit and a thick
white cotton shirt and a silk tie. He puts soft thirsty socks and
brand new Italian leather shoes on our feet. And then He takes us to
dine with His Father in the dining room.

When The Father sees us clean and smart and beautiful, He says to
Jesus, "You did a great job of getting him cleaned up". We sit on
engulfing leather chairs at a solid oak table, drinking red wine from
crystal glasses and eating tender meat and soft vegetables with silver
cutlery. After dinner He leads us to a room in the house and says that
it is mine, to stay forever, if I want. The suite has a breathtaking
view of the countryside, with a king-size bed, chunky white carpets, a
mini bar, unlimited room service and a home entertainment centre. I
get to meet new friends in the rooms next door; people just like me
who were taken off the street and given all this for free.

Although we are now clean enough to live in this mansion, we still
speak like the street dwellers that we once were, and so we begin to
study the book that is left on our desk in our rooms, The Bible.
Furthermore, we talk with our new friends and learn from them how to
live in this house, and the best part is that all we have to do is
push a button and The Father rushes to our room to talk with us and
encourage us and enjoy life with us. And as we obediently do these
things, our minds, thoughts and words become cleaner as well and they
begin to mirror our appearance.

He also gives us something to do in the house, some kind of job or
task so that we don't sit around all day and get bored. We are
encouraged to tell our old friends from the street what we have here
in our new home and they are welcome to come too, for there are many
rooms that are still empty.

I feel like through seeing this person on the street, God showed me
how filthy I was because of my sin, how unworthy I was to even set
foot in His pristine mansion; but then how Jesus came to me, washed me
up and gave me a new life in the mansion. Only because of and through
Him do I have this opportunity of living a real life.

It is important to know just how much Jesus has done for us, in giving
us life. I don't think we can fully comprehend it, but I hope this
story helps you to understand it a little better, like it helped me.
Finally, could you ever imagine going back to live on the street in
the filth and stench when you have lived in the mansion? I could not
when I think of it in this analogy, yet in real life I still go and
spend time on the street – I guess it is because I take for granted
what I have been given.

I hope this inspires you to not go back to the dirty sinful ways of
living on the pavement once you have lived in the luxurious mansion of
our Father.

Be blessed, make music, seek Him always
NS