In This Game, It’s Good to Be Tagged
We’re all familiar with the game of tag and most of us played it as kids.
It involves two or more players chasing each other in an attempt to “tag” them out of play. When a person is tagged, the tagger says, “Tag, you’re it.” The last one tagged is the loser and is “it” for the next round.
The Christian game of tag works a little differently. Instead of tagging people out of play, in the Christian game, we “tag” them in. Every person we tag joins in the effort to tag others, who then do more tagging.
The people tagged in this game are the winners.
In Luke 9:28-36, Jesus takes Peter, John and James up on the mountain. While up there with Jesus, they were tagged. They went on to tag others, who tagged others…
This experience, among others, made them want to be like Jesus and “tag” people.
Being like Jesus, sounds relatively easy on the surface, but think about the sacrifices He made. He came to earth and lived like a human. He shared in our sufferings. He loved us that much.
Dr. Maxell Maltz tells a remarkable story of a love like this.
A man had been burned and disfigured in a fire while attempting to save his parents from a burning house, but he couldn’t get to them and they perished.
He mistakenly interpreted his pain as God’s punishment. The man would not let anyone see him — not even his wife.
She went to Dr. Maltz, a plastic surgeon, for help. He told her not to worry. “I can restore his face.”
The wife was unenthused. Her husband had repeatedly refused any help. She knew he would again.
Then why her visit? “I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him! If I can share his pain, maybe he’ll let me back in his life.”
Dr. Maltz was shocked. He denied her request but was so moved by her love that he went to speak with her husband. Knocking on the man’s bedroom door, he called loudly. “I’m a plastic surgeon, and I can restore your face.” No response. “Please come out.” Again there was no answer.
Still speaking through the door, Dr. Maltz told the man of his wife’s proposal. “She wants me to disfigure her face, to make her face like yours in the hope that you let her back into your life. That’s how much she loves you.”
There was a brief moment of silence, and then, ever so slowly, the doorknob began to turn.
The way the woman felt for her husband is the way God feels about us. But He did more than make the offer. He took on our face, our disfigurement. He became like us.
The places He went to reach us show how far He will go to touch us.
“Tag, you’re it.” Now go and tag someone else.