katOnce upon a time…
A man and a woman met online through a dating app. They began writing emails to each other and sending each other texts.
One day the guy who was just so enamored with this woman asked the woman, “Can you send me a picture? I’d like to see you,” but this woman said, “No, I want you to know me by my heart and thoughts. I don’t want you to focus on my physical appearance.”
So years go by, and this man and woman continue exchanging emails and messages back and forth. As time passes, the man develops a deep fondness for the woman, so he asks to meet her.
She agrees, and she tells him to meet her at the airport. She says, “I will wear a white orchid, so look out for me.”
The man arrived at the airport when the woman told him to wait for her. He’s waiting, and as he’s pacing around, this beautiful woman wearing a green dress walks towards him and bumps into his shoulder! The man thinks, “Wow, she is so beautiful. Could this be her?” But then she rudely says, “Watch where you’re going!” gathers her stuff and walks off.
The guy continued anxiously searching the crowds when finally, his eyes caught sight of a white orchid. To his dismay, it was on the chest of a woman who appeared to be 60 years old or older and had grey, almost white hair.
“Could this be her? How could it be?” he thought. “Though she is not what I expected, I know her stories and heart. I must meet her.”
So he walks towards her, his heart beating in his chest, “Uh, excuse me, are you-“
“Yes, I am,” the old woman replied before he could even finish his sentence giving him a kind gap-toothed smile. He was nervous, unsure of what to say. He was surprised to confirm the woman with the orchid was the one he had yearned to meet for so long.
The woman smiled mischievously, “But actually, a woman sent me here and asked me to wear this orchid, and she said that if a man came up to me asking for her to pretend I was her and then to tell you to meet her down at that restaurant!” She pointed to the restaurant up ahead.
The man was absolutely flabbergasted, “So you are not-“
“Hurry along, and you will see! Off you go, son!” and nudged him forward.
The man thanked the woman before hurrying off towards the restaurant. Still completely shocked at what just happened, he walked into the restaurant, unsure of what to expect. He saw the beautiful woman in green, the same woman who bumped into his shoulder earlier. She was seated, smiled at him from across the room, and waved him over to her table. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, inside and out.
…
What is the moral of this story? Where did I get this story?
Well, it’s certainly too great to be my own. It is a story my mother shared with me just the other day from a sermon by a Spanish-speaking pastor at River Church in California.
She told me the entire story so excitedly and at first, I half-heartedly listened but then the story got really juicy, and as I heard, I was deeply moved.
The pastor’s message was about treating your brothers and sisters with utmost love because there is a little bit of Christ and God in each of them.
I thought it must be based on this scripture from “The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats” in Matthew 25:34-40. It reads, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
The pastor said that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back in the second coming, he will face us like this.
It is true. The Lord will reveal himself to those who have a heart such as the righteous in the scripture I just shared. It is as it says in Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
The Lord will look for those who are servants, just as he came to serve, not to be served. God will look for people with potential to be those who serve Him as his beloved.
It is as it says in Matthew 20:26-28 “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Just imagine for a second if the man in the story chose to walk away from the old woman, to pretend he didn’t see her and get lost in the crowd, he could have chosen to go home or even gotten angry with the old woman for catfishing him. Imagine that? He would have never met the woman in green, the woman who was truly the one he spoke to all those years. The woman who bared her heartfelt life stories to him for that long, who shared a piece of her mind with him; the woman he had grown to love. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
The woman who loved him. Yes! I believe she loved him because otherwise why would she go to the trouble to meet him and orchestrate such a genius fiasco! The woman tested him to see if he was a good person with an open mind, a heart of gold, and kind enough to look beyond the physical.
She was checking if he genuinely valued her heart and her stories. To see if he was worth meeting her because she has standards, and when you’re as beautiful a woman, having that standard is reasonable. How else can you know if someone truly loves you for more than the pleasure of your beautiful body or face? Or for what you can give them? How else can you know someone will love you when the pretty fades? Perhaps she knew if he could accept and kindly approach the 60 year old woman, he was a man worthy of loving her all the rest of her days.
In the same way, when Jesus returns, he will be like that woman. Did you know Jesus is coming back? It is prophesied in the Bible. He will look for the one who sees beyond the physical, who will listen to his words, his stories and see his true heart. When the time comes to meet, God will check, looking for the ones who will accept the one he has sent no matter what he looks like or who he is. Because if that person can accept the one he has sent, though he may not be as expected, that person has a heart worthy of Heaven.
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:37 NIV)
Jesus said this as he held a child in his arms. He meant whoever welcomes one of my children (sons of God) welcomes me, Jesus. If they welcome me, they welcome the one who sent me, my Father in Heaven.
Finding God is like winning the lottery. If you welcome Jesus when he returns, you will welcome God. Then you will find the kingdom of God has come near you, and there is nothing more significant than finding that.
When Jesus preached, those who crucified him, who disbelieved him, and thought he was a cult leader, who only looked at him as a poor man and thought less of him – they failed to see the glory of God shining through Jesus. Why? Because they only focused on the body, the physical, and not his heart.
They thought, how can this man be God? Isn’t he Mary’s son? Didn’t we grow up with him? Isn’t he just a carpenter? “Nazareth? (where Jesus was from) Can anything good come from there,” they said!
This story reminded me of something I experienced the other day. At a gas station, I saw a white older man with blonde hair who looked homeless. It was very cold that day. He had long tears in his clothes. He looked downcast and he asked people for something, for money I thought. He asked a man who had a sticker that said “God bless the veterans” on the back of his truck for something and the man said no, shaking his head, and he left shortly after pumping gas. I had compassion for the homeless man so I gave him two bucks and told him, “God bless.” It wasn’t much, but in my heart, I wished he would get better. I walked away. Then he came up to me and I said, “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t have anymore,” but he said, “Oh, ma’am, I’ve had two strokes today and I left my car down the street by the Walmart. Would you be so kind as to give me a ride there?”
I felt fear because I’m a woman and didn’t want to say no, but I learned from my mama to say no to strangers and always be careful. I told him I was in a rush and had to go, but I said, “I hope you find somebody who can help you.”
Then this other guy drove into the same gas pump as the ‘God bless the veterans’ guy, and the homeless man walked up to him. As I turned the engine on, I watched from my car.
This new guy was young, probably a few years older than me. He was thin and wearing a black shirt with Korean words on the sleeves, his style was what I would describe as edgy. I think he had tattoos too.
As the homeless man asked the guy for a ride, he looked amused, he was laughing a little, but then suddenly, I saw the homeless man start pulling down the guy’s trunk. I thought he was doing so without his consent, but the guy grabbed his arm and helped him up on the back of his truck. It was then I realized he was actually going to take him!
I felt so happy in my heart. At some point in between all this happening I prayed. I realized even though I couldn’t help the homeless man because I hoped in my heart somebody would help him God used someone else to help this man. He moved that young guy’s heart to help him.
I pulled out to leave the gas station and happened to end up behind the guy’s truck. I watched the homeless man hoping to make eye contact with him and wave at him, but he wasn’t looking my way. As I was stopped at the light close to the Walmart, I watched the guy drop off the homeless man at the Walmart parking lot. He helped the homeless guy down, holding his hand, treating him like a human and that moved my heart. Then the light turned green and I had to go.
I was astounded because the man who was clearly a believer of Christ did not help the homeless man, perhaps for good reasons unknown to me. Instead, the edgy-looking lanky guy (who may or may not have been a believer of Christ) helped the homeless man.
I realize Jesus will come back looking for people with loving hearts. He is looking for true love that doesn’t discriminate and who is not quick to judge but who asks questions and seeks the truth to the very end. It’s not about knowing your Bible back to back (though it is certainly important to read and understand the Bible in our daily lives), but about uniting with God’s heart, which is only love.
If you have love, you have the oil spoken about in the Parable of the Ten Virgins and you will receive him.
