Yesterday morning, I woke up with a couple of lines from "Goodness of God" running through my head. Not surprising since we'll be singing it in our Sunday morning service, so I've been practising it. The song says, "Your goodness is running after, it's running after me/With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now/I give You everything". "But," I thought, "that's not really true. My life is not really completely laid down. I'm not surrendered in everything." Almost immediately, a second song came into my mind..."Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!/O what a foretaste of glory divine!/Heir of salvation, purchase of God,/Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood./This is my story, this is my song,/Praising my Savior all the day long..."
I felt as though God was trying to say that I should not focus so much on my shortcomings but rather on what He has done for me. He purchased me, washed me in His perfect redeeming blood, made me His heir, gave me a new birth so I'm regenerated by His Spirit. That is my story!
Then it was time to turn to the devotional book I received from our church prayer team leader. It's called "On Our Knees: 40 Days to Living Boldly in Prayer" by Phil Wickham. The focus that day was about the thief who was on the cross next to Jesus. He had no reason to expect anything from Jesus, and yet, he was bold enough to say, "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
Phil Wickham writes, "I've had times in my life when I knew I was making selfish decisions and not putting Jesus first. It's easy for me to fall into the lie that sometimes I need to live a few 'good' days before I can get back on track with God. As if I need to do some work to get into His good graces again. Even after all this time I still feel as though I have to prove to Him - and myself - that I'm worthy to spend time with Him. I often believe my prayers have a higher rate of success if I come with a few star stickers stuck to my shirt from good behavior. Yet at the end of this (thief's) life...facing the grim consequence of his own bad choices, he simply cries out to Jesus ... and Jesus hears him. Not only does He hear him, but Jesus welcomes him into His eternal family..."
It seemed the Holy Spirit was reinforcing the truth that I should keep my eyes on Jesus, not myself.
Then my mind leaped to the story of Hosea, who was instructed by God to marry a harlot. He married Gomer. When she bore him children, God gave them names revealing His messages to the people. His first daughter was named Lo-Ruhamah (no mercy) because God said, "I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel". Then Gomer had a son, and God said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi (not-my-people) for you are not My people, and I will not be your God."
She later chose to leave Hosea and became a harlot. Though Hosea's heart was broken, God commanded him to take his unfaithful wife back into his home and to show her love again. Out of this experience, Hosea could grasp with keen insight the pain in the heart of God when His people forsook Him and "played the harlot" with idols and foreign gods.
There is new prophecy in chapter 2 of Hosea, where God says, "I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people! and they shall say, 'You are my God!" This has been fulfilled through Jesus, and His offer of salvation to all people, including us Gentiles.
This story is referred to in I Peter 2: "...you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (verses 9-10).
So, all of that was my loving Father reminding me to focus on Him, and all that has been given to me. I have the blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. I am an heir of salvation, the purchase of God. I am born of His Spirit and washed in His blood. I am a member of the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, a holy nation, one of God's own special people who has received His mercy. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! Therefore I can "proclaim the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light."
And as I focus on His goodness and grace to me, I will more and more be able to lay down my life and my selfishness and surrender everything to my faithful, loving, dependable Father! "Praising my Savior all the day long."
