HAND ME DOWN
What it means to be CHOSEN
June 18th, 2023
Colossians 3:12-14, ‘So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.’ (MSG)
the FATHER
In my wildest imagination I cannot conceive what a Holy God, our Heavenly Father, must have been thinking when His Spirit hovered over the deep and He whispered, “Let Us make man in our image.” You and I both know what it feels like to have something not quite turn out as we had hoped. But our Father in Heaven, fully knowing the risks, dreamt us into existence anyway. Out of dirt, He made you and me, fashioned a heart within us which He hoped would beat for Him, placed a hole inside of us that He hoped would only be filled by Him, and breathed His breath into us, hoping it would only be used to praise and worship Him.
But little of that happened, and He still kept believing in us, fighting for us, hoping in us, His children, His kids. Have you ever let your dad down, even just a little bit, if not greatly? I have. I have watched my dad shed tears at my mistakes and shake his head at my choices. I watched my dad as he ached and agonized over things that befell me which also then befell him. He suffered for my wrongdoing; he protected me when I was wronged, to his own detriment; he had to look away when I shamed him.
Our Heavenly Father, our Creator, that One Who stood the most to lose when all of us kept going astray, peered down through the ages and imagined a life without us that He chose not to have. Therefore, He took His only Son and sacrificed Him on my behalf and yours. My choices befell Him; He suffered for my wrongdoing; out of His Father’s great love and protection for me, my shame landed upon the Son’s shoulders, and now His Father had to look away.
I am beyond words that a Holy God, a Perfect Father, would do all of that for me. That He would dream me up, that He would accept and love me and give me life, and then choose to forgive me and keep me, at the price of His one true Son, that He would hand me down His grace and goodness, kindness and love, that He would redeem me from the pit.
What a good, good Father Who loves us unconditionally!
Happy Father’s Day, Father.
Romans 2:4b, ‘God’s kindness is intended to lead toward repentance.’
