Tuesday, November 11, 2008

And it was given to her [the wife of the Lamb] to be Dressed In Fine Linen, bright and clean (For The Fine Linen Is The Righteous Actions Of The Saints). Rev. 19:8.

The bride of the Lamb at the end of history wears "the righteous actions of the saints" like a garment. While visible on the outside, they represent something deepr and even more important-character. The outward actions arise from within. When all is said and done, success will prove to be more a matter of character than skill or luck.

This reminds me of Jesse Ownes, the famous Olympic athlete. While he certainly had great physical ability, the 1936 Olympics revealed his character as much as his skills. Said his mother, "Jesse was always a face boy-when a problem came up, he always faced it."

He grew up as a young Black man in a world dominated by Whites. Overcoming many barriers, he made the Olympic team, only to encounter the greatest challenge of his career. Adolf Hitler had proclaimed that Nazi Germany, the nation of the "master race," would prove its superiority on the sports field before it did so on eht battlefield. Owens could not just concentrate on the sports-larger issues were at stake.

John Kelley was the captain of the U.S. marathon team in the 1936 Olympics and a good friend of Jesse Owens'. On the boat to Germany Owens told him, "I want to go up to the deck and exercise, but I dont' have any shoes." Kelley responded, "I don't think my shoes will fit you." But that didn't stop Owens. He tried to get one of Kelley's shoes on, but his foot was so large, it split the shoe in half! Owens apologized, and Kelley had the shoe sewed up for 50 cents, a small price for what would become a treasured souvenir.

When Kelley finished the marathon, Hitler waved at him, and the American thumbed his nose in return. That became his greatest claim to fame. It stunned him later when owens told him, "Kelley, Hitler waved at me, and I waved back." Talk about character! When Owens won his fourth gold medal, however, he became the hero of the games to everyone but Hitler. The dictator looked unbeatable at the time, and German athletes dominated the 1936 Olympics on the whole. But one African-American was all it took to expose the lie of a master race.

Character is the sum total of many choices and actions over a long period of time. Crises do not make character-they expose it. The behavior of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics was a beautiful garment that bore witness to the character developed during a lifetime.

Lord, thank You for the reminder that every small decision and action today sets the stage toward the larger purpose for which You designed me.

The heart in which Christ dwells will be so filled, so satisfied, with His love that it will not be consumed with longing to attract sympathy and attention to itself. And through the surrender of the soul to God, His wisdom can accomplish what human wisdom fails to do. Through the revelation of His grace, hearts that were once indifferent or estranged may be united in bonds that are firmer and more enduring than those of earth--the golden bonds of a love that will bear the test of trial.(TFMB 65).