Once again a puzzle very clearly illustrated a truth about all mankind.
But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Our tale begins this past week when Ken and I began a great new challenge; a beautiful, but slightly used, puzzle shaped like a large lighthouse that contained paintings of multiple smaller lighthouses within its borders. Understand that I am a major admirer of real-life lighthouses. If I discover we’re within a hundred miles of one, I’m ready for a detour from our planned route. So I was really anxious to see this project completed. About halfway into the construction of the puzzle, I began to have doubts that one of the key pieces had been in the box. This sometimes occurs with our flea market finds.
As we neared the end, the piece was obviously missing. I get really frustrated when that happens and I was so disappointed that I was ready to tear our puzzle apart so I wouldn’t have to see it again. But we finished and, as I walked past the table a little later and grabbed a quick glance at those beautiful lighthouses, a thought struck me. Our puzzle was still beautiful though imperfect.
And that led me to the shocking reminder that I am also imperfect. Each of is imperfect in our own way, some more than others, but Jesus doesn’t care. He’ll sit down to dinner with any one of us, walk through our deepest valleys with us, follow us into our messiest mistakes, hoping that He can turn us around.
That’s why He chose the cross. He could have decided, after living among us, to follow in Joseph’s footsteps and become a carpenter. He didn’t have to reveal his identity or leave the home he’d grown up in. He wasn’t forced to abandon an assumed partnership with his earthly father. No one enticed him to walk away from the love of his faithful family. He had experienced a nice, cozy life in Nazareth…why would he want to leave?
Simple. He was no ordinary human and he was not intended to be a carpenter. He lived a very human life but he was the Son of God. I’ve heard people say that if Judas had not betrayed him, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die as a young man.
That kind of reasoning denies God’s omniscience. Before time began, before there was an earth, before humans existed, our God knew that his human creations would stray from his presence and develop many imperfections. But he loves us and chose to also create a path back to Him. Through the greatest sacrifice ever known or imagined, God asked his own son, Jesus, to bear all our imperfections in one incredible act of mercy so that our path to heaven would be cleared. And Jesus accepted his mission.
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. I Timothy 1:9
God loved us so much that he was willing to place his Son on a cross for us. Forgiveness of our imperfections was dependent upon the success of God’s plan. But he needed a co-conspirator to set the plan in motion, and who should step up and volunteer? One of Jesus’ own followers. I believe there is significance in that deceitful act. It points to the truth of our imperfection. One man, who traveled everywhere with Jesus in his three-year ministry and earned the trust of the other disciples, turned on Jesus for the promise of a few coins.
How often do we, in a moment of weakness, turn away from God for the lure of something better, bigger, more impressive, more fun? Judas represented all of us. But God gave us a way back. Now the choice is in our hands. Who do we follow?
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still (imperfect) sinners. Romans 5:8
That puzzle, with its one very obvious flaw, is back in its box. But when I think of it, I no longer see its imperfection. I see charming lighthouses I’d love to visit, towers I’d like to climb, and views from the top that would be awesome, and I can imagine the tales their walls would tell if they could talk.
And when a person I encounter displays an imperfection, I would hope that I might not even notice. After all, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Jesus loves me with all my imperfections and sees me as beautiful. Who am I to notice imperfections in others?
