RECOGNIZING THE FACE OF JESUS

I’m guessing that my son Jake was around 8 years old when my niece, Kelly invited him & me to attend a children’s festival with her. While we had fun going from booth to booth sampling food, collecting free trinkets and learning about available new and improved resources, there was one booth which specifically lingers in my memory even today. This booth was set-up by a local opthmalogist who presented the challenge to identify a variety of animals by only seeing their eyes. The person who was able to correctly distinguish the most won a few free trinkets and a free eye exam. Although there were people of all ages and levels of intelligence attending this booth, at 8 years of age, Jake won the contest! Amazingly, he was able to identify every single animal represented on their chart!

How was it that at such a young age Jake was able to accomplish such a challenge? He had read and studied most anything he could get his hands on regarding animals. He not only knew their physical characteristics, he learned about their ways of communicating, breeding habits, common habitats, etc. Why would such a young boy go to such great lengths to learn all of these details? Because he had such a great love and appreciation for animals!

Longing to see the face of Jesus, I’ve often heard people say that it is difficult to believe in someone whom they can not catch sight of.

Could it be that we tend to look in the wrong places?
Could it be that He is sitting right in front of us and we don’t recognize Him?

A few months ago, a sister in Jesus shared this poem with me which she had written:

The blind heart recognizes Me not, Yet they have looked upon My face of Love. What do you see when you look at Me?
Do you see My face?
Are you unsure? Yes? Maybe?
Do you need more time to consider?
Then, perhaps you have never truly seen
The Face of My children.
I Am right here, right now, in My children's every face.
Look upon My Face with the eyes of your heart
And you will see the Beauty of My Love
In every face of My Beloved.
Have you seen the face of Love?

Author, Kathy Marie Huff

I know exactly what Kat is expressing! I've looked around a room at my brothers and sisters in Jesus and was filled with so much joy that I felt like I would burst! I recall another time while beholding all their precious faces that all I could do was cry. I was filled with so much love that the tears just flowed. I’ve looked around a room seeing faces of brothers and sisters from various nationalities and have been filled with awe at the beauty of the Body Christ! I’ve expereinced all of this within the last year or so. My Lord is showing me that seeing Jesus isn’t a someday, “when we get to heaven,” thing. We can fervently behold Him now!

I had this image come to me in a dream one night. It had the strangest affect on me. The boy Jesus was very calm and confident. Quietly content but also strangely sad. There was a strength in his demeanor. His eyes were gentle but determined at the same time. If you look closely, you can see that the image of the cross is already in view. It was as if he knew what awaited him, faced it with courage, and would not look to the right or left. I will not forget this image. - David Hayward

We are instructed to "speak to one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord" [Ephes. 5:19]. Yet, when God’s people sing spiritual songs, they are typically directed to stand, facing the “middle-man” behind the pulpit while giving little thought of the face of Christ which is all around them. We could radicalize our intimacy with Jesus overnight by simply rearranging our Christian gatherings so that we can gaze upon their faces as we encourage our brothers and sisters while singing praises to Jesus. In doing so we are truly beholding the very face of Christ!

Look at this passage and notice what is said. It speaks of "we" (plural) yet of one (singular) unveiled face."

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
just as from the Lord, the Spirit
[2 Cor. 3:18].

It seems that at 8 years of age, Jake had a handle on something which most of us do not. If we intensely study the physical characteristics, ways of communicating, breeding habits and common habitats, of Him whom we claim to love and appreciate, we will come to recognize His unveiled face!

We are His dwelling place!
We are His body!
We are His mouth piece!

We don’t speak and sing to an invisible entity! Christ lives in us, the hope of glory [Col.1:27]!

Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie