Who are you in the story?

Matthew 25:40, "The King will answer and say to them, 'truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'"      

During Iwo Jima ( a men's group) the other day one of the guys read a children's book. It is called Just the Way You Are by Max Lucado. It is a tale of 5 orphan brothers and sisters who catch the attention of the king, and who are to be adopted by him. Four of the five orphans have talents. They include painting, singing, craftsmenship, and intellect. The fifth orphan has no talent other than a good heart. So the four talented orphans prepare to greet the king for the first time by emersing themselves in their talent, I assume to impress the King with a gift. The fifth orphan goes to each asking to be taught by the other so that she too can have a gift for the king. All four reject her becuase they are too busy preparing.

Finally she goes to the gate of the city. A man arrives on a donkey. She graciously cares for the man and his donkey. He then goes into town and like the ophan sister is rejected by the four brother's and sisters because they are too busy. Upon returning to the fifth orphan he reveals to her that he was the king traveling incognito. He embraces the 5th orphan because of her heart without respect for her talent.

So the story is an entertaining tale of Christ as the King set to level of understanding for children. Or is it? Who are you in the story? Are you the fifth talentless orphan just willing to help, or are you one of the other four orphans too busy exercising your talent for a King you couldn't recognize if He showed up incognito? Or worse, are you one of the faceless, nameless bystanders not even mentioned in the story?

Me, I like to believe that I'm the fifth orphan. Unfortunately, if I am honest with myself I must admit there are numerous incidents where I am one of the four distracted orphans, lost in the self-importance of my talents, too good and too smart to associate with the lowly. But now that I am conscious of where I am, perhaps it will keep me from being too busy when the King or one of His adopted children comes calling.

I will close with this. I was in Pensacola at a youth conference years ago. We were singing a song that the lyrics said, "I want to open my eyes and see Your face." As I cried that to heaven I knew God was saying to me to open my eyes. As I looked around that packed arena I asked, where are You? I want to see Your face. It was then He conveyed, that looking into the face of everyone of those young people was looking into His.

Our visitation from the King happens all the time, and it is not with pomp and celebration. It is incognito, through the least of them. The beauty is we don't have to go and find Him. He comes and finds us. We just need to not be too busy in self-absorption to miss it.

Now it took quite an effort to find this song. It is "I Will Search For You" by Mike Motley. I would be honored for you to listen to it.

Follow the link and click the play button.CLICK HERE... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? CLICK IT.