God Is on Your SideSample

THE ARTIST IS PRESENT

Several years ago, performance artist Marina Abramović put on The Artist Is Present, an exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. For two and a half months straight, the Yugoslavian-born artist sat in the museum’s atrium for seven hours a day, five days a week, and ten hours on Fridays. People were invited to come sit across from her, one at a time, face-to-face, and look into her eyes as she looked into theirs.

People waited hours in line to be part of this unusual experi­ence. Over the course of the exhibit, she sat with more than 1,500 people for a total of 736 hours and thirty minutes.

Here’s the crazy thing: People were overwhelmed. As they sat with her, many were moved to tears, or their jaw dropped in awe, or a look of peace and serenity came over them. After the initial awkward­ness of sitting with a stranger in silence, they were moved by the experience of simply being seen.

In Christ, the Artist is present. The Artist has entered his painting and taken a seat at its cen­ter, inviting you to pull up a chair. To look into the face of the One who made you, who knows you more deeply than you know yourself, and to see him seeing you. In his countenance, you’ll discover the divine mercy that has long been set on you. He longs for you to lock eyes with him, the God who entered the painting of his creation to meet you where you’re at, in all your mess and brokenness.

Friend, God sees you. In fact, he created you to be seen. As Hagar said of God in Genesis 16:13, “You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One who sees me. (NIV)” In Matthew we read that Jesus would be called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23 NIV).

If you’re having a hard time seeing the Artist is present today, it’s okay. I’ve been there too. I believe God wants to encounter you not in spite of your pain but through your pain. Jesus approaches you not to take something from you but to give himself to you.

And he does more than look at you; he sees you.

Find a quiet spot and sit in stillness for five minutes. Imagine Jesus sitting across from you, seeing you fully and lovingly. Let yourself be seen.