A Lesson from the Jesus Sketch

I came across this pencil sketch recently – it was drawn many years ago by my old art coach, James Sewell. Since I was having a bad pain-day, I stopped and stared at it, letting the rendering speak to me: I was touched by the beckoning look in Jesus’ eyes, as if He were saying “Trust Me.” The thought helped lighten my pain. After all, think of what Jesus suffered for us. In Mark 15:23 we read, “Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.” Astounding! That drink (like Vicodin) would have softened the edges of His suffering – but He determined that His sacrifice on our behalf would not be soothed, even for a bit; He would not stop short of what He had undertaken to suffer for our salvation; He would embrace the full horror of human misery. That speaks to me. It reminds me that if I can honor Jesus by choosing a trusting, yielding attitude in my pain, then so be it. Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Oh, that we walked more in the footsteps of our Lord, promptly and willingly putting away the thought of self when it might interfere with our finishing the work He has given us to do.”  It’s something I’ll be remembering when the next pain-day comes.