Gentle

 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.  Isaiah 46:4

Something I like to regularly do is walk through our local shopping mall. Besides browsing the "goods," I like to observe the people passing by. The other day I was deeply moved by a scene that has stuck in my mind since. An elderly couple was sitting on one of the mall benches. Actually, he was sitting upon it while she was seated right next to him in her wheelchair. It seemed very obvious that the dear woman was in some stage of dementia, yet the loving care being exhibited towards her by her mate was moving beyond words. I watched as he caressed her thinning hair and gently kissed her many times. Then he fed her from a cup he had brought. It was hard to know how aware she was of all he was doing, but that didn't matter to him. He simply loved her, gently, beautifully, powerfully. In this scene I saw a picture of the true and deep love of God for His people. A love not dependent on how able we are, or even how able we might be to return it. He loves because He is love itself. Always and forever.

This connects well with a story I read recently. The writer related a conversation he had with an elderly pastor whose wife was experiencing the beginning of dementia. The pastor told him that his wife's greatest fear was that she would one day forget Jesus, that she would no longer remember Him. He told her that she needn't worry. The important thing was that her Jesus would never forget her. I don't know if the wife in the mall any longer remembered who her husband was, but that wasn't important to him. He remembered who she was and he loved her. Gently, beautifully, powerfully. So it is with the love of Christ for you and me. The husband's love for his wife saw far past her current state and limitations. He loved her simply because it was his heart to do so. So it is with Jesus. He sees beyond our feebleness, our limitations, our failures. This will be so until the very end of this life and then into the life to come. He has made us and He will carry us, just as the Scripture promises.

In Christ's great invitation to come to Him in Matthew 11:28-30, in the center are His words, "I am gentle....and lowly." In his book, "Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ For Sinners And Sufferers," Dane Ortlund writes, "This is who He is. Tender. Open. Welcoming. Understanding." Gentle, and lowly, and loving. As Ortlund says, "Not a mushy and frothy love," but a strong and powerful one. As I watched that husband with his wife, I saw a man of great strength hold his frail wife's hand and minister to her in a way of love that to me, most reflects how He ministers to us. Especially to we who have wandered away or are walking through the desert of suffering. Wherever you are and whatever you're walking through, this is the Jesus who is with you, who seeks you, who is there, who will not forsake you. Jesus Christ. Exalted King with a name above all names, who is yet gentle and lowly.....to you.

Blessings,
Pastor O