This Man I’ve Never Met

I have never met God, but He has created the world that I live on. He put the grass under my feet, the sky above my head, and the air into my lungs, but I have never seen what He looks like. I have heard the stories of His faithfulness to Abraham and to Moses, to Isaac and to Jacob, and to David and to Elijah. Even though I have never met those men either, I know that He will be faithful to me in the same way, as long as I am faithful to Him. I have never crossed Him on the street but I have been a visitor in His home. I had never asked Him to free me from my sins, because I didn’t even know what sin was, but He did that too. This God that I have found myself inexplicably joined too, and I’ve never even seen His face.

I’ve never met Jesus, but I’ve heard the stories about Him. How He walked and talked among men, and delivered miracles that shook the earth. I don’t know what He looks like, but I’ve heard He looked much like me, a simple man among other simple men. And I’ve heard the stories about this carpenter from Nazareth taking sinners into His home to eat with them when nobody else would, and that this same Man would then give His life on the cross to pay the toll for their sins. What had they done for Him? Then I heard that this Man’s sacrifice was also meant for me, a man He had never met, yet knew better than I know myself. He knew about my shortcomings and failures, what I was capable of, and, even more often, what I wasn’t. And yet He still wanted to sacrifice Himself for me, even though we’ve never met.

Now I hear that He asks me to give my life back to Him. Why should I? I don’t even know the Man! But He knows me, and He knows the path that I’m on. He understands that it leads to nowhere, although many will follow it. Deep down inside I know He’s right. I see the masses walking to futility, but it seems ever so comfortable. What do you mean there’s another way? There has to be, as I can see the cliff approaching on the horizon, the inevitable drop off into obscurity that so many people follow. Surely there is another way, and perhaps this Jesus, a Man I’ve never met, is right about it.

Now I will follow it, give it a shot and hope it works out. My steps are laid out before me, the route simpler than I could fathom. Even though it is different from everyone else, it is nonetheless simpler, and filled with much more beautiful scenery. How did this Man know about it? How does He who lived so long ago, know so much about the now? And as I come to the end of this road, I see that He was right all along. This Jesus, whom I’ve never met, has shown me the perfect way, and I can see the reason for it all. The sacrifice, the love, the compassion, the justice, and the mercy. It all falls in line, and I can see that He was right all along.

This man that I’ve never met, a face I’ve never seen, and a hand I’ve never shaken, has taught me how to live my life better than I could imagine. How could I forget about Him? After the sacrifice that has set my life free, all He asks is “Do this in remembrance of me.”