Soul-to-Soul

When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, He saw in him an erring child of God. He saw in him a human being whom His Father loved and grieved over because he was going wrong. He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be, and therefore He saw through the surface layer of grime and dirt to the real man underneath. Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that did not belong to him, something that chained and mastered him and from with He would free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because He loved them right through the layer of mud.

-Helmut Thielicke(1908-1986)

I read those powerfully accurate words from the book What's so Amazing about Grace by Phillip Yancey. I couldn't nod my head enough in agreement to what he said, because it was Biblical, and it was awfully hard to swallow. It's not some smooth theology, in fact every time I come to this realization that "God loved me while I was yet a sinner.." I can't help asking, "Really? .......Why?" and I was not even questioning God. It's more of a sense of unworthiness and awe. The more I am aware how sinful I am, the more I am overwhelmed by God's love. God sees my soul, the ME underneath it all. Oh, how every person yearns to be seen for who they really are. "How we long for a soul-to-soul connection." as John Eldredge puts it.

And tonight this is my prayer,
that God will grant me Grace-Healed eyes.