My Savior: His Heart for His People by bernie moore
Seeing Jesus Through the Right Lens
Yes, I see Jesus through the glorious lens as my personal Savior! I know the life He saved me from. The love He poured out upon me and yes, so many others, including you who read this now. How can I/we look at Him in any other way? Allow me a moment of flexibility to share a true story with you.
A Day at the Beach
A few years back while our family was living in Orlando, we decided to go to the beach for my middle daughter’s 14th birthday. She had just been given a beautiful surfboard and, of course, wanted to try it out with her friends. Our entire family loves the beach, the sun, the water, and of course surfing.
As usual, it was a gorgeous sunny day in early September, Labor Day weekend to be exact, and the beaches were crowded with people from all walks of life looking for that last official weekend of summer. We found our spot on the beach to park ourselves along with all of our gear, and off we went into the water. My daughter and five or six of her best friends grabbed the surfboard and for the next five or six hours tried their best to surf.
They asked me if I would come in and help them get started — the idea was to help them get balanced as they attempted to stand up on the board and ride the waves, even if it was just for 3 or 4 seconds. All I can say is they definitely tried their best, but I don’t think any of them is joining a professional surf league anytime soon.
After several hours of trying to help them all out, I finally raised my hands in full surrender. I was exhausted. Between the sun, the waves, and the amount of times I tried to help my daughter, her brother and sister, along with their friends get on the board, I was worn out. Not to mention the numerous amounts of other people attempting to surf or throwing frisbees and footballs and splashing in the water. It had all culminated to a point of exhaustion for me. I needed a break.
A Cry for Help
As I began to get out of the water, I was looking over at my wife who looked super comfortable, peaceful even, and I couldn’t wait to just sit and open up a nice cold Sprite and munch on a few snacks. It was at that moment, as I began to make my way over to her, that I saw a lady a few feet away from me with panic set on her face. I paused, looked around to see what she was looking at or what was causing her to panic, and it was right then that I noticed two little kids, a boy and a girl, probably around the ages of 7 and 9, drifting off on one of those little five-dollar rafts you pick up at a store along the beach.
This poor lady was frozen. She was pointing, but no words were coming out of her mouth. Panic and fear had certainly set in. At this point my wife noticed as well. I asked the lady if those two kids were hers. She didn’t hesitate — she said yes. They were from up north, Delaware I believe, and they were just visiting for the Labor weekend. She asked if I could please help her. She wasn’t a good swimmer, and as she was getting all their stuff situated on the beach, the curiosity of the kids had gotten the best of them and they ran into the water. It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes later that the undercurrent had taken her kids without her even noticing. By the time she turned to check on them, they had slowly drifted way out. They too started to panic.
I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed these kids out in the water, and unfortunately no one had. Everyone was so enraptured in their own lives — their friends, their music, throwing the frisbee, playing volleyball, laying out getting their tans — that no one had noticed.
My wife looked at me and pulled the old “you were a lifeguard and you’re a good swimmer” card. “Bernie, go help them!”
I’m not going to lie, at this point they were really out there. They were far from the beach, but I thought that by the grace of God I needed to do something. Even though I was exhausted, thirsty, and hungry, I couldn’t ignore this mother or her kids pleading for help. So off into the water I went.
Slowly but surely, I began to swim out to them. I could see the peace on their faces, knowing someone was on the way to help. By the time I had finally reached them and turned around, I must admit — the shore was really far away. It was way off in the distance. Slowly but surely, through a whole lot of prayer and patience, we were finally able to make it back to shore, although the current had carried us far away from where we had originally started.
There the mother anxiously awaited, with tears flowing down her face as well as the kids’. She grabbed them, hugged and kissed them, and thanked me profusely for rescuing them. Even though I was exhausted and thinking of every excuse in the book as to why I didn’t need to risk my life to help, in the end I too was overwhelmed with joy that I was able to help.
From the Shore to Scripture
We see another similar situation unfold in the Gospel of Mark. In Mark 5 we see Jesus doing what He was sent to do, bringing salvation to all who are lost and setting people who were bound free. We see this gentile man who was tormented daily by a legion of demons and made his living in the mountains amongst the tombs. When he sees Jesus from afar, he runs to meet Him.
I can’t help but think to myself, I wonder if this man was thinking, could this be Him? Could this really be the One I’ve been hearing everyone talk about? Could this be the One who makes the mute speak and opens the ears of the deaf? Could this be the One who has opened blind eyes on several different occasions? Could this be the One who has raised the dead? They say He has the power to set people like me, bound by demonic possession and oppression, free.
From the very first moment he laid eyes on Heaven’s greatest gift to mankind, he knew something was different about Him. He carried something on Him that was unlike anything from this natural world. He couldn’t explain it; he just knew he had to run to meet Him.
Scripture says that this poor man cried out day and night for help and yet no one could help him. No one actually had the power to help him, that is until he met creation’s Savior. Well, spoiler alert, you know how the story ends. His heart filled with anticipation and expectation for what he believed the Lord was going to do for him, he runs to Jesus, bows down, and begs for his deliverance.
Jesus gently replies, “I’ve come here for you. I’ve come to help you, to set you free. I sailed across this vast Sea of Galilee because I’ve heard your endless and passionate cries for help, and so here I am.” With just two words — “COME OUT!” — Jesus sets him gloriously free in an instant.
How Do You See Him?
How about you? How do you see Jesus? What lens are you seeing Him through? I pray that you see Him the way many others have, through the lens of a loving Savior who, the minute you lift your voice and call out to Him, comes running to you. He runs to you to comfort you, to heal you, to deliver you, and to love you in a way that no one else on the planet can.
