Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A welcoming hug

Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar (Psalm 138:6).

In the early 1800s, Albert Thorvaldsen completed a wonderful statue of Jesus that he named Come unto me. It shows the Lord standing with arms spread wide, waiting to embrace anyone who approaches. After the sculptor’s death, this piece of art found a home in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Some years later, a well-educated scholar come to the cathedral to see this statue. As he stood looking at it, disappointment seemed to creep into his face. A little boy standing nearby said, "Sir, you must go close to Him. Kneel down before Him, and look up into His face." The scholar stepped forward and did as the little boy suggested. When he knelt and looked up into the welcoming eyes that gazed down on him, he saw beauty in that face which could not be seen when standing at a distance.

The sculptor of that statue had a good understanding of our relationship with Christ. You cannot truly appreciate the Savior’s beauty from a distance. At a distance, it is hard to see the welcome in His eyes. At a distance, it is hard to hear His words of invitation. At a distance, you miss out on His gentle touch. To really see Jesus for who He is, you must come close to Him.

Your posture is also important. If you try to stand eye to eye with Jesus as if you and He are equals, you will miss something very important. It is only when you kneel in humble submission and look up to Him that you will see Him as He really is—your Master, your protector, your source of strength, your God. To really see Jesus for who He is, you must look up to Him as greater than yourself.

The incident in that Copenhagen church tells us one thing more. It was not the scholar who figured out the best way to experience the statue’s beauty, it was the little boy. For all his education, the adult could not figure how to look at the sculpture. But the little boy simply saw someone who offered him a hug, and he responded to that obvious invitation. Don’t get so caught up in over-thinking things that Jesus seems unapproachable to you—just accept His invitation and find security in His arms.

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