"Awake, awake, O Zion,
clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your garments of splendor,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.
For this is what the LORD says:
'You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.'" -Isaiah 52:1-3
I've been struggling with sin these days. (When am I not struggling?) When I indulge in sin and later reflect on it, I'm filled with shame enough that I even avoid the Light. I don't want to come into God's presence unclean, disgraced, and humiliated in my weakness. This is natural, given that Light exposes darkness, God abhors sin, and our human inclination is to shun humility and weakness. But tonight, these verses fill me with hope.
It's like God is calling me personally to wake up, trade my grimy rags for a shining robe, shake off the shameful residue of sin, trade my compromising complacency for a dignified and authoritative posture, and pull myself out of the devil's vice-grip... ALL BECAUSE...
I have been redeemed by Jesus! On this first (well, technically second) day of Advent, I'm thanking God for giving us His son... His only son, Jesus... that we might be redeemed--that is, ransomed from the clutch of sin by the blood of Jesus--to reign with Him in righteousness. Hooray for the birth of our Redeemer!
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