“Anyone who belongs
to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has
done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us” (2 Corinthians
5:17-18a, CEV).
I no longer own who I
am. I have been purchased by my Lord's sacrificial love for me. His sacrifice
for my sins has been accomplished, but that sacrifice only becomes real for me
when I accept His gift into my heart. Then His forgiveness is absolutely real.
The old “me” that has lived in sin, or dealt with fear, or been hurt, or been
told that I will never be good enough... is gone. He has set me free with His
love. I am forgiven. I am a new person because of His love for me.
It is in my daily
surrender to Him that I discover again and again the amazing wonder of my loving
God. When I allow Him to be Lord of my life, I discover an intimacy so deep that
nothing compares. It is in my letting go of all that I am, I discover who He is
in me.
In “The Practice of
the Presence of God”, Brother Lawrence, a 17th century Carmelite
monk, wrote, “I regard myself as the most wretched of all men, stinking and
covered with sores, and as one who has committed all sorts of crimes against his
King. Overcome by remorse, I confess all my wickedness to Him, ask His pardon
and abandon myself entirely to Him to do with as He will. But this King, filled
with goodness and mercy, far from chastising me, lovingly embraces me, makes me
eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the keys of His
treasures and treats me as His favorite. He talks with me and is delighted with
me in a thousand and one ways; He forgives me and relieves me of my principle
bad habits without talking about them; I beg Him to make me according to His
heart and always the more weak and despicable I see myself to be, the more
beloved I am of God.”
I will “practice” His
presence everyday of my life. He is my loving Master, who gave all so that I
might be free from all the sin and pain that has defined my life. He sees me, as
Brother Lawrence, writes, through the eyes of grace. He is my “Adonai”, the Lord
who owns my heart.
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