Not Me, Man

The last several days have been days of emotional ups and downs for me. I know I don’t often display emotions as some do, but I can certainly feel them inside. One such time happened today as I heard some beautiful music.

Sis came by the home today and serenaded the residents and staff with some selections on the baby grand we have there. As soon as she started playing, I was struck with emotions that I cannot describe several hours after the fact.

The music was beautiful, but that wasn’t the reason for my feeling. Instead, there was something about the relationship I have with the one doing the playing that made the whole afternoon. I looked forward so to her coming so my friends at the home could meet her, and look forward to her coming back. I was proud of her and her accomplishments in life and wanted others to know about her. And I was grateful and proud for her service and willingness to volunteer an hour or so doing what she does so well.

I also had a good evening at our Wednesday Bible classes. Our class is viewing a video on the life of Jesus. We are watching the book of Matthew portrayed as it is translated in the New International Version. I can’t think of the video series right now…some of you would know about it if I could remember it.

In this video, Jesus is portrayed as a man who has a sense of humor, shows emotion, and seems to sincerely enjoy his ministry and being with people. I understand the producers of the video have taken some license with it in order to produce something that has some attraction to those who would watch.

However, I cannot abide by the old notions that Jesus went around with a frown on his face all the time, used “thee” and “thou”, and had not a bit of fun in his life. He was fully human, according to the Scriptures, and that means he ran the full gamut of emotion including humor, sarcasm, wit, and others.

The Bible says that “the life” was in him. The Bible also says that Jesus came to earth to give us all life, and to give it abundantly. Jesus is The Life. To me, that means that He embodies all that is good about life and living, including humor and emotion.

I am grateful that I am receiving another perspective on the life of this God-Man, the Eternal Son. I am humbled and awed by the possibility that Jesus may well have lived and worked much as he is portrayed in this video. Why else would the crowds respond to him as they did? Would you want to follow someone who frowned, had no fun, and spoke in the king’s English (so to speak) all day? Not me, man. Jesus came to give me life…the abundant life…eternal life. And that means (at least to me) that I have some abundant living to do.