From the River to the Mountain: Committed to a Lofty Charge

We try to hide our faults and failures from others. We want people to see us at our best. Perhaps we

assume that if people knew what we were really like, they would want nothing to do with us. There’s no

hiding anything from God. He is all-seeing and all-knowing. Christ Jesus has witnessed our very worst,

even the sins that only occurred in our heads. The psalmist says, “You perceive my thoughts from afar.

You are familiar with all my ways” (139:2,3). Yet even though Jesus knows all our faults and failures, he

badly wants something to do with us. So, he calls us to follow him. He wants us to be with him, secure in

his love of forgiveness. Here is this week’s epiphany: Jesus shows kindness when he calls us to

discipleship. More, he shows kindness by giving us the ability to answer that call, so that we might

always be near him and his blessing.