I used to enjoy visiting cathedrals, basilicas, abbeys, cloisters … anything that was old and resembled something artistic and architectural.
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| Milan, Italy. Duomo |
I enjoyed the peace inside, the stillness and coolness. I liked to look at the art and the statues. Visiting a church as a tourist is different than belonging to one as a Christian. I was blind, I did not see.
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| Paris, Notre Dame |
In Pisa, I enjoyed the acoustic perfection of the Baptistry. Really. It is acoustically perfect. And who doesn’t love the story of the Leaning Tower? I heard the sound of a tenor voice sweetly rumbling among the rafters in the Baptistry. I could hear the notes, but I was blind. I did not see.
Enjoying a church as an architectural wonder is great, but it got me no closer to Jesus.
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| Quito, Bell Tower |
These churches are mausoleums to emptiness, odes to nothingness. And far be it for me to visit a working, bible believing church. Too new. Too uninteresting. It had nothing for me. Sigh… I was so blind. Far better to stick with large, tourist oriented churches. Safer that way. I heard the bells and listened to the choirs and studied the history, but I was blind…
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| St. Paul’s Cathedral, London |
Even in a simple clapboard church, if I happened to visit for a service, and if they happened to play the wonderful hymn, Amazing Grace, I’d sing, all right. But when it came to the part about ‘saved a wretch like me’, I clamped my mouth shut. I was not a wretch, I was not, I was not! That lyric was stupid, I thought. But I was blind. How could I see the most important thing?
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| Labrador |
I sang of grace, but I didn’t know what grace was. (Unmerited favor from God). How could I possibly know how amazing it is? I didn’t. I sang pretty words that had no meaning for me. “I once was lost but now I’m found” is a comforting lyric. I could safely relate to that. Who doesn’t find comforting the notion of being lost but found and enveloped in arms of love? Yet I was blind, and did not know I was lost and I did not know love. I didn’t know the height from which the arms came down to envelop me nor the depths of sin in which I was living. (1 John 5:17)
Then I was saved. (Grace!) I came to know Jesus (Amazing!) But the most important thing of all is learning that He is not in a cathedral or abbey or cloister or basilica. He is now in my heart and He is now with me wherever I go. I had been looking for Him the whole time, but I was missing Him by a mile.
I praise God that He came down to us as a babe. Grace came down to live with us (Immanuel; Matthew 1:22-23). He lived a perfect life so that He would qualify as the Lamb of God to be slain as the sacrifice for sin. He sent me a spirit of repentance and of faith so that I could know Him and be reconciled to Him with no wrath between us. (Romans 8:7).
Now I have the best Christmas gift of all: I know I am a wretch! I sing that lyric with gusto. I know Jesus loves us and He came to put away sin. I know that in my wretchedness He came to save me. I once was lost but now I’m found. Christmas, (and Easter), made it all possible. Thank you Jesus. Happy Birthday!
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
The best photo of all —
the-end-time.org 