the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
Ok team, I am dangerously close to leaving this 52 verse adventure hanging because I can't think of anything insightful to say about week 51.... I am soooooo prone to leaving things unfinished, which I'll tell you about next week, so I'm going to just duke this out and see what happens :)
This past Christmas I was really trying to figure out who Jesus was --- which I have a pretty good idea, but scripture is full of things that I had no idea were even in there, so I like to be on the look out.
One thing that stuck out is the term Immanuel -- God with us. Do you think he could have accomplished His will in Heaven without coming to be with us? Absolutely. Did he do it anyway? Yes. And he would have done that just for me. I'm so overwhelmed with the fact that after everything I have done and everything I'll probably still do, God still wants to be with me. He wants to know what I think. He wants to know my heart. Just crazy. God with us.
This scripture I thought was particularly interesting. It's Simeon's blessing over Jesus. "This child marks both the failure and the recovery of many in Israel..." I am so blessed to be sitting on the recovery side of this statement. My church just started offering a program called Celebrate Recovery and I could not be more proud to attend a church that welcomes people that struggle. I've been thinking a lot about the phrase celebrate recovery and it really is something to celebrate. We celebrate birthdays every year, and what have we really done to accomplish that? Now recovery....standing on the other side of something that had complete control over you, and walking victoriously...that is something to celebrate. If you have found yourself in a place in life where some sin had a complete and utter stronghold on you, you know what I mean. It is only by being broken and accepting grace that we allow Jesus to rescue us from our messes. It makes me want to put my hands up in the air and praise Him for where I am today versus where I was a few years ago. I was talking with a friend about the woman who was caught in adultery and thrown before Jesus. She asked me if I was that woman, would I still look back and feel guilty about the things that I had done? I said yes for sure I would, but what would stick out in my mind the most was that crazy day where I should have been stoned and that man saved me. It just makes me smile thinking of this woman cleaning her house or going about her work and just shaking her head wondering if that really happened to her?
Grace is hard to accept isn't it? It's so hard for us to fathom that not only do we struggle to believe it for ourselves, but we withold it from others for the same reason. I know I've said this on this blog before, but when I was just stuck in sin, I was talking with a friend and I remember telling her that if grace really is real, then it is just too good to be true. Especially for someone like me. But here's the thing ---- that is when I really started to understand Jesus more, a little bit anyway. Grace is so so so much more than we deserve, and the moment we start to wrap our minds around that, is when we start to see how much Jesus loves us. While we were still trying to get our act together, while we were still trying to be good enough, while we were still choosing to live a life full of sin, while we were still 'fill in your blank', Christ died for us.
I think we struggle to offer Grace to others also, in that our churches are full of people keeping secrets because they fear what will happen to them if they tell. I don't know how people determine that they are in a place to judge others, but man does it happen. Sometimes I find myself judging people for judging people if that makes sense?
I'm both encouraged and fearful of the statement "But the rejection will force honesty, as God reveals who they really are." I pray daily that God will change my heart to be more like His, but an all out revealing of who I really am....yikes... I don't want that on the front page of anything. However here's the other part, I have been deeply hurt by someone in my past and I often wonder what happens about that. This could be way out in left field but see if you can get this with me... I know that God forgives all sins, and I know that that even includes the ones that were done to me. So as much as I want justice and some sort of finality to that, I know that I am part of a faith that offers grace and forgiveness to everyone. But still. What about that stuff that was done to me, that no one is sorry about, and that not a lot of people are even aware happened. I feel like this verse encourages me to know that Jesus sees a persons true heart and how they accept and offer His grace really does reveal who they really are.... I don't know if any of that makes sense, just some thoughts running through my head.
This whole post has gotten pretty heavy.
Let me lighten things up by sharing some of the other things I find running through my head on this random Wednesday in January :)
I need one of these buttons in the real life...
"There are no more possible moves. What do you want to do?" Particularly in regards to relationships. I just need a button to pop up and say, "Seriously, you have done enough, and there are really no more moves, you should walk away". Hahaha, this probably could apply to a lot in my life.
I'm also making a mental list of things that I have no idea how I ever lived without them.
I've also been thinking a lot about people's understanding of Redemption and what Women's ministry looks like in any given church. But I'm going to save these topics for later.
I'm hoping your January finds you content with the slower time of the year and anticipating what all might happen in the coming months. Hope everyone is doing well out there. Love to you all. Beth
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