Dear
One,
He
was a cute little boy. His
dark brown curly hair fell across his forehead and down into his eyes.
He sat still just long enough to push those interfering strands
of hair out of his way and then he was off again.
He eyed the corner of his daddy's desk and made his way towards
it. He grabbed the corner
edge with his chubby little fingers and began to pull himself up.
It didn't work. He
fell backwards on to the soft area rug that covered the floor.
He tried again...and again...and again.
Finally, the toddler pulled himself up and made his way around
the massive desk until he reached his daddy.
His father looked busy.
People were coming in and out of his office and talked to his
father with stern voices and big words.
The telephone rang and his father talked for a long, long time.
He even raised his voice once or twice.
But when all the people were gone and the telephone quit ringing,
his daddy returned to the papers on his desk.
He would look at them with serious eyes and then stared out the
window. It was then that
the toddler reached over and touched his daddy's hand.
His daddy looked down, smiled at him and then brushed his hair
from his eyes. Oh, how he
loved his daddy!
The little boy returned his daddy's
smile and quickly turned back to the business at hand.
He lowered himself down his daddy's leg to the floor so that he
could crawl into the open space under his desk.
He hid at the back of the space and sat very still.
His daddy called his name over and over again. He giggled with glee as he stuck out his foot to assure his
daddy that he was still there.
This little game of hide-n-seek was cut
short by an important telephone call.
His father went back to the business at hand. As the toddler
leaned back into the dark space, he saw a thin line of light shining
through the front of the desk. He
crawled towards the line of light and tried to cover it with his
fingers. But as he touched
the panel, it moved forwards a bit. He pushed against the panel with both hands and this time it
opened wide. As he stuck
his head out through the opening, a photographer snapped his picture.
 And what a picture it was!
That famous photograph of John Fitzgerald Kennedy sitting at his
desk while his son, John-John, played hide-n-seek through the front
panel of the President's desk. It
is probably one of the most heartwarming photographs ever taken in the
Oval Office at the White House.
I wonder.
Is it a picture of John-John or is it a picture of the President
of the United States? I
guess it depends on how you look at the photograph.
Are you struck by the innocence of a child who is unaware of the
prestige and position given his father?
Or do you marvel at the freedom that the President gave
John-John...even in the Oval Office?
Either way, it's a pretty remarkable
photograph. But before you
take another breath or begin to entertain a thought like "I wish I
had..." let me encourage you in this - that photograph is just a
pale reminder, a mere vapor of the love relationship that your heavenly
Father wants to have with you. He has gone to great lengths and paid a high price to have
you as His own (Philippians 2:6-8; 1 John 4:9-10; Romans 8:38-39;
Ephesians 3:18-21).
Now that's taking love beyond any human
expression we have ever experienced or ever seen...even in a
heartwarming photograph! But
it's true. He loves you with an eternal love - with a love that HE first
initiated. Did you know
that? He loved you before
you ever gave Him a second thought (I John 4:19)!
Matter of fact, He loved you and me while we were still helpless,
ungodly, wrath-deserving sinners (Romans 5:6-9).
How is that possible? How
could He love us even when we didn't deserve it?
I think that the apostle Paul's letter
to the people of Rome sheds light on the answer to that question - it's
really not about who we were but about who He is (Romans 3:21-26; Romans
5:6-9; Romans 8:16). How
could God love us when we were so unworthy?
Because of who God is. Because
of who the Love-Giver is, not the object of His love.
Imagine that! Not
about you and me? Preposterous!
Well, again it's true.
We so often think that what we receive or don't receive in life
revolves around our three favorite people - me, myself and I. Surely how I view myself and maybe even how others view me
will give me some sort of indication of whether I'm worthy or not.
Horse feathers! If there is anything that we could do to make ourselves
worthy or maintain our worthiness to receive God's love, then Christ
died needlessly (Galatians 2:20-21)!
I tell you - it's all about God. It's all about His grace and His mercy. We are the blessed recipients of a most wonderful inheritance
that is first anchored in the solid foundation of His love (Ephesians
1:3-14; Ephesians 2:4-7). And
nothing about His love depends on you and me - not even whether we
believe it or not. God's
love for us isn't dependent upon our belief to make it true.
It is true whether we believe it or not!
Again, it's not about you and me...
And so the story goes.
The love of a father for his child.
Very much like the photograph of John-John and the President of
the United States. Surely
this picture represented the special love shared between a father and
his son that happened to be made public through the quick thinking of a
White House photographer. It
is not unlike the picture that we have that represents our Father's love
for us. And it, too, was
publicly displayed. Just
not in a big fancy office or through the lens of a photographer's
camera. But over 2,000 years ago on a hill, just outside the city of
Jerusalem. On a simple
wooden cross.
"But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8
I love you,
Marcy
marcy@gospelfortoday.org |
