Love Notes from Abby- Forgiveness and the Face of Jesus

Transcript:

Today we're carrying on with our theme of forgiveness.

I have really enjoyed hearing from so many of you, and I know that many of you have faced really hard things, things that are really hard to forgive.

But, I also know that you long to break those chains that hold you captive.

So as we charge ahead with our lesson on forgiveness, I came across a really neat story on Amazing Facts.

I'll be honest, I have no idea if it actually happened. I'll let you decide that for yourself, but it was so good. I felt like I needed to share.

So legend has it that Leonardo, not DiCaprio is I wanted to say in my fatigued state, Leonardo Da Vinci, whenever he was commissioned to paint The Last Supper, apparently he and Michael Angelo had gotten into a little argument of some sort, and actually there's a biographer named Vasari, and he wrote they had an “intense dislike” for each other.

Basically the two were jealous of each other's work and so they would call each other ugly names and say bad things about each other out in public.

When it came time for Leonardo to paint the face of Judas in The Last Supper, he got this idea that he would paint his rival Michael Angelo's face as the face of Judas.

As people began seeing his work, people recognized him and so Leonardo felt some sort of vindication. I mean, he was getting the best of Michael Angelo.

Then, as he continued painting and as he was wrapping it up, he came to the face of Jesus. He had done all the other work in the painting. He'd painted the body and the table and all the other people, but now it was time to paint Jesus's face.

He cried out and he prayed, “Lord, help me see your face.”

And God's response that spoke to his heart said, “You will never see the face of Jesus until you change the face of Judas.”

How true is that for us as well?

We want to grow in our faith. We want to feel closer to the Lord. We want to fill his presence in our lives, but we can't see his face when we're hanging on to unforgiveness and when we're hanging on to anger.

Sometimes we have a hard time seeing Jesus because of our refusal to forgive our enemies. Forgiving those who have wronged us and wronged the people we love.

It’s not possible in our own strength. It's only through God's power that we can truly forgive.

Your charge for today:

Your charge for today is to seek the face of Jesus. Spend time working through the process of forgiveness. Give yourself time to work through that, but we serve the God of miracles. We serve the God who can help us do the absolute impossible.

Tomorrow we're going to be delving into a new perspective of someone we may need to forgive.

Thank you so much for being part of love notes. I appreciate you spending some time with me and now, dear friends, get a take on your day.