Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Isaiah 54:4-8

Isaiah 54:4-8 
  Have you ever been making a recipe, following it as closely as possible, when you accidently add waaay too much of one ingredient?  At that point, you've got a very important decision to make -- how committed are you to this recipe?  (And do you have anything else to cook?)  If you've committed, you've got to find a way to compensate, to rebalance the recipe and try to salvage it.  You may still be able to taste the ingredient in the final product, but if you're done it right, the recipe will be just right after all.
  When Isaiah talks about the shame of your youth, he doesn't say you won't have it.  Isaiah doesn't pretend that sin doesn't take place, or paint an image of the church as only for the perfect.  (Reminding us, yet again, that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints, as Augustine says.)  There is shame in the youth, but it is forgotten, for God as the chef has so perfectly prepared the final recipe that the bitterness of sin is overcome by the sweetness of the Gospel, and no trace of the shame is left.  
  So do not dwell on the sin of your youth, but rather focus on the hope of the Gospel.  God has restored you, redeemed you, and sends you out into a broken world with a message of hope and joy.  With everlasting love, God's compassion will be upon you.

No comments: