All You Who Are Weary
Written in part for whoever needs to hear it, and for myself, a reminder.
Psalm 34:1
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
For all of us who have struggled with addiction, with eating disorders, with self-harm, with suicidal ideation, with negative self-image, with shame: this is the good news.
Genesis 3:5 For God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
In the beginning, we wanted to be God, only to be given his desire for justice. Thousands of years later, I open my eyes in brief, harsh flashes of self-awareness. Angry, red hot, burning like whiskey or Georgia heat. Awareness of living negligence. Awareness of hurt I’ve inflicted in the little time I’ve had to inflict it. Pain that started so young and ugly, disobeying with rotten searches on the family computer and practicing new vocabulary in elementary gossip. Pain I inflicted on myself, on others that only increased with age. Awareness of my adolescence ripping out the hair of my mother, the silent judgement I reserved for my peers, lust that dragged young feet to unavailable men. Self awareness consumes when you are only aware of the coldness you harbor- when you know some undeniable thing is wrong with you. No wonder we’re all suicidal; some instinctive, intuitive part of us knows we deserve to die!
When I was 16 years old, I began punishing myself for my shortcomings I was all too aware of. For me, it was food. Bulimia was my penance. Deprivation was my penance. Malnutrition was my penance. It was unsustainable, and no amount of it brought me any closer to atonement. There was nothing I could do to punish myself out of the shame and the guilt of falling short in all areas of life!
Mathew 9:13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous , but sinners.
The Gospel is this: someone already died for you. Died for me. This is The Gospel: we don’t have to! This is our freedom, all you who are broken-hearted and self-aware! There need be no more bloodshed. This is the gospel, all you who are shrinking: the price has been paid for the whole world! Take up as much of it as you need! This is The Gospel to the weary sinner who assumes the roll of stained and undeserving: you are redeemed! This is The Gospel to the traumatized: you are loved and capable of loving! This is the Gospel all you who feel shame or guilt! You are free! You are free! You are free!
Isaiah 43:1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
We no longer need pay the penalty for our flesh. The day of atonement happened long before we were born. We have freedom on this earth and until the end of time. We no longer need pay the penalty for our flesh! We can’t buy what’s already been bought!
If no one has told you in your life, or this week, or today : YOU were so worth dying for that Jesus, God in the flesh already did, conquered the grave and returned to insist that perfect love outweighs your past. Redeems your shortcomings.
This is the Gospel : In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Mathew 11:28, …”Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It is finished.
It is finished.
It is finished.
Want to celebrate? Need encouragement? Want to talk redemption or freedom? Need to speak to someone who has tasted and seen that He is good? Email me [email protected].
All scripture is from ESV translation of the bible!
