I have been reading through the Old Testament prophets. There were moments in their lives where God called upon them to be examples of His truth. There are many places He asks them to be a living parable. They are told to do things that seem difficult and at times outlandish. They are to live out a truth so others may see and understand God better.
God walks us through the hard places in our lives. We all have journeyed through hurts, pains, losses, questions, personal attacks and sorrows. Often we may ask God why this is happening. Yet, we never come to a full understanding of what we are going through. What if in the midst of each one God is calling us to be a parable or model of the character of Jesus? Deep within all of God’s people lays the heart of Jesus. Difficult times should drive us deeper into his heart and give us more of his character to live out of.
We come to realize afresh and anew that we have His power and strength to forgive those who have hurt us. We can give grace to those who attack us. We can display unselfish love to the one who has crucified us. We can embrace the one who has rejected us. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” Matthew 12:35 NIV
We are given the privilege of representing Jesus in each of these situations. We stand in his place, displaying his character so others may catch a glimpse of who Jesus really is. Scripture challenges us to do this. We may complain that this is unfair. If we do this we simply reveal that our hearts are focused on us and we have not denied ourselves, taken up our cross and followed Him. We display the fact that we are not yet disciples of the One who lived solely for His father and died for others.
