So as I'm sure you've noticed, we've had a slight name change. Here's why. The other day I got this text message from my sister informing me that she tried to go to my blog but forgot to put the 15 at the end of darkbutlovely. Here's the thing. When you don't put the 15 on the end of darkbutlovely, it makes a big difference. You will find yourself at the blog of a sexual anorexic, and while I reserve my judgment, I don't wish for anyone to ever venture to that blog under any condition. So in an effort to thwart any accidental comings upon of this blog, I changed the name of mine to Hephzibah624. Now before you go saying things like, "What the heck is a hephzibah?", let me explain.
Hepzibah is Hebrew for My Delight is in Her (but don't worry guys, this isn't exclusive to women). It comes from Isaiah 62:4, where ironically, God gives Zion a new name. Check this out.
"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight is in Her, and your land married, for the Lord delights in you. For as a young man marries a young women, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you". -Isaiah 62:1-5
Let's explore this passage for a moment. For the sake of the redeemed people of God who dwell in Zion (another name for Jerusalem, God's holy city), God will glorify himself in the renewed and increased glory of his people. In other words, He is going to raise up his people for the sake of his glory. He gives his people a new name, declaring that He is the only one that defines their destiny. This is the Lord's city. It is where he dwells. He dwells among his people. The Lord delights in his people. He likes them! He delights in YOU. And then we get this beautiful picture of a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride. I can relate to this in a finite way because I just got married. I think of what a joyful day that was for me, to walk down the aisle with my earthly father at my side, walking toward my bridegroom, who had a big smile on his face while simultaneously trying not to bawl in front of 300+ people. It was a beautiful day; full of promises, laughter, anticipation, and excitement. And here God is saying he rejoices over us like that. What an even bigger picture full of His promises and his delight in us, his creation. Thank you Lord.
I am sure you're wondering why my post is titled, Jess vs. Tim Tebow. Well, I want to share a story that will hopefully encourage you. I have this friend... we shall call her Tim Tebow. She called me the other day and we talked for awhile about life, and just some things that were on her heart concerning her relationship with the Lord. You see, Tim Tebow (remember... Tim the she, not the he) grew up in a very legalistic environment. An environment that is very common in our culture today. An environment that says, do good and you will be blessed, do bad and you will be punished. We talked about grace and how hard it is for her sometimes to accept it from God because it is free. And we are taught in our society to earn what we get. So how can we, as Christians in today's society, learn how to accept God's grace when it is free? On one hand we think, I love free stuff. Free stuff is great. On the other hand, we think, I don't feel worthy of this gift. What did I do to deserve it? What can I do to make up for it? What can I do? You see, many of us make it about doing. But is that what grace is about?
I remember being probably about 10 years old when I got my first true lesson on grace (that I can remember at least). And I'll never forget it. I am the oldest of four, and my sister, who is the second born in the family, used to really get on my nerves. Needless to say, we did not get along well when we were younger (by God's grace, we do now). She would do things to annoy me and she tattled on me and made me look like the big bad bossy older sister (which I probably was some of the time). Well one day, I decided to write down all the things that she did to wrong me that day so that when my mom got home, I could show her the list (I even had a bad memory back then and had to write stuff down). So I'm writing my list of trivial wrongdoings that my sister had done to me, and all of a sudden my mom walks into my room and asks me what I'm doing. I proceeded to tell her and that's when she talked to me about grace. That even though my sister might have hurt me or done something wrong to me, I needed to forgive her. Without a price. She didn't need to earn my grace, I just needed to learn how to give it to her. So I wadded up that piece of paper and threw it in the trash can, because that is grace. Grace is throwing away the piece of paper with all our sins, all our misgivings, and all our wrongdoings on it. Grace doesn't ask any questions and it doesn't ask us to earn it. It just simply gives freely.
God does the same thing for us. He knows every single sin (and he is actually justified in identifying those sins), and yet he offers his grace to us because he loves us. He delights in us. And more importantly, He likes to let us know that He delights in us. He speaks to us and teaches us new things. He blesses us and guides us. He is faithful to fulfill his promises. He shows us things that maybe we wouldn't normally see without Him. He allows people to come into our life that give us joy, and sometimes he allows us to go through hardships because He has something He wants us to learn. Now that is a good Father. Always looking out for our best interest, because He delights in us.
Back to Tim Tebow... God likes Tim Tebow. He delights in her. I know this because I have seen the Lord chase after Tim Tebow multiple times, as if to say, come back here, I want you to come to me! Like a father who has to chase his daughter who has wandered into the street alone, I have seen God chase Tim Tebow, both in a full out run and in subtle, gentle whispers. So Tim Tebow texted me on Wednesday to tell me she was going to church. And guess what the sermon was about? Grace. And how hard it is to accept grace because we are such a performance based culture and we feel like we have to earn it somehow. We think "do good be blessed, do bad, be cursed". If that's not God talking to Tim Tebow, I don't know what is! You see, we serve a loving God that desires to lavish his grace on us and to show us that we can do nothing to earn his grace. And we don't have to. That's why he sent his son to die on the cross for us! Jesus Christ did all the work. Now don't get me wrong, faith without works is dead... but James says this because he wants to point out that our faith should produce good works. It's not that our works earn us salvation.
No matter what season of life you're in, no matter where you're at with your relationship with the Lord, hear this. Our God delights in us. If we are stuck in the desert, he will lead us into the promiseland. If we are stuck in sin, he will deliver us from the chains that keep us there. No matter who you are, or what you've done, God is bigger than all of it. He is bigger than your sin. He is bigger than your inadequacy. He is bigger than your unfaithfulness. He can rescue you from the pit and bring you into new life. His grace is free. Receive it.
Delight in the Lord as he delights in you.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus". -Romans 3:23-24
"But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many." -Romans 5:15
My declarative statement for today is: Me and Tim Tebow are going to accept God's grace. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment