Side note: I may have to read (or listen to) this sooner rather than later.

To become real is to look a lot like Jesus. But how did Jesus look? Was there anything physically about Him that drew people to Him? Not really.

What was it? What draws us to Jesus even after all this time? Why is He so impactful that His name is still spoken more than any other name 2,000 years later — either in prayer or in cursing?

Because no one has ever loved us sacrificially like that. No one ever went through that much torture and shame and death for us. The one who deserved it least volunteered to take the place of the ones who deserved it most. And without Jesus, we still do.

It’s not the kind of love that affirms us as we are and leaves us in the mess we’re in, but the kind that makes us not just better, but brand new. The kind that transforms us into something like Jesus.

I want to be real like that. I want to be so used up at the end of my life that I might not look pretty but people can say that they have seen Jesus. If I ever get there, it won’t be due to my perfect faith or my super spiritual living or my holy countenance (all of which I seriously lack), but it will all be the grace of God that didn’t quit on me when I wanted to quit on God and everything else.

Lord, make me new. Lord, also make me real.