The Gift of Presence

"Your presence is the only present we request" sometimes shows up on an invitation to a birthday or anniversary. The hosts are expressing that it's more important to be there, than to give something to the person being honored. Guess what? Jesus 'showed up' often during his life on earth, and his presence was often simply that, and that alone. Jesus came to
be with us. That's what "Immanuel" means, "God with us." By joining our own humanity in the most intimate way, becoming and being one of us, he showed God's love for us. His dedication to us was (and is) expressed by his presence with us. We can follow his lead. Want to know how?

First, the problem:  Quite often, we get involved with trying to fix something about someone else. Men are notorious for this with our wives, but ladies don't get a free pass either -- we're both at fault! Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5 ("first remove the plank from your own eye") that we need to be careful how we think and speak toward others. We may think we know the answer to what we believe is their problem, but look out! says Jesus, we may not understand at all, because of the mistaken ideas in our own heads. It pays to be very cautious with our advice!

More than that, as a Western society we're often not content just to be with someone. That's where we take a sharp left turn, I think.

You might have heard, "Jesus gave us a set of rules for life, and we must follow them. God's way works!" But the Gospels are a condensation of all Jesus said and did, not every minute of his entire life and ministry. Jesus taught, but he did a lot more "hanging out" than we recognize. He was all about being with us. God himself is relationship, Father-Son-Spirit in an eternal, intimate relationship of sharing, and that's what God has shown us, and shared with us, by sending Jesus, our Immanuel. 

A friend of ours was a roommate with two other women. One was an evangelical Christian who felt compelled to share her worldview and advice with everyone; and the other a non-Christian. The non-Christian shut the evangelical off after becoming tired of the constant stream of advice. Our friend, though, was content just to share a cup of tea, to be with the other woman, who eventually opened up to her as a friend. That's being. It might not have solved anything that we can measure, but it was following Jesus.

Our friends need the gifts of our presence and our prayers most of all. When we are with them like that, Jesus is there too.