As we were walking
along the road, I said to him, “Lord, I am so easily distracted.
Please help me to see you.”
“Do you really mean that?”
“Yes.”
“Will you listen to me? I am crying out to you, all over
the world, begging and pleading for you to pay attention. You
crank up your music and drown out my voice. I am present in
the poor, but you are so busy eating that I go hungry. You are
engrossed with building your houses—palaces and mansions—
and I go homeless. You are so busy driving about you have no
time to walk with me. I am the power that opens blind eyes,
sets captives free, breaks chains, feeds the hungry, heals the
sick, and, yes, saves souls. But your experience of me will
be limited if you always rush by and refuse to talk to me. I
have infinitely more to offer than you could ever imagine.”
I was challenged by his words, and at the same time a little
discouraged. Then he said, “I am your friend, and so I
am speaking frankly to challenge you to truly take up your cross
and follow me. I am not calling you to a life of misery, but
rather to live an abundant life, a life in fellowship with me.
I love you very much.”
“They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts
burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while
he was opening the scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32).
—Charles Reed, M.Div. student, Columbia Theological Seminary |
