The fragment of a Scriptural passage will sometimes jump into my mind as I’m considering what God is teaching me in a situation. Today it was this, “…For the joy set before Him…”
I was prompted to look it up. Hebrews 12:2 says,
“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
I had to ask, what was the joy set before Him? Was it heaven? Wait! Was it me?
This need for His assurance came as I washed dishes this morning. I had remembered it again. The feeling of judgment. The feeling of being set low; set beneath.
Set aside.
It took my breath away…
…again.
It made me question my standards…
…again.
It made me angry, sad, defensive…
…again.
And Holy Spirit whispered, “You don’t have to keep doing this.”
I could not see past the person who judged me meanly, and was missing the perfection of faith. My eyes must be fixed on the only person who ever saw all that I am missing, and endured the cross so that He could be my friend. He met me in the mess of what I brought to the table, and continuously refuses to reject my meager attempts at fellowship
How can His holiness tolerate my heaviness? It won’t. He had to make me free.
And this is the crux of my dilemma. If I am free, why am I still replaying the tapes of bondage and rejection that echo in my mind? Why am I still running back to my messy table and asking Him to meet me there?
He pioneered and authored my faith when he met me in my mess, but He wants to perfect it in the vastness of His holiness. He isn’t unwilling to seek me out, and find me at the wobbly legs of my old sticky table, but He always approaches with a reminder that I can sit with Him.
I can stand up into His perfection, proudly put on the robe of righteousness, and recognize that I am IN HIM. In Him, I am seated with Him in heavenly places.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” – Ephesians 2:4-6
When Jesus says, “you can sit with Me,” He isn’t just talking about including you in the conversation. He’s talking about including you in His perfection. He is the quintessential includer. No one ever has to sit alone, clearing and re-clearing their untidy table, hoping someone will want to sit with them.
This is where grace has thrown wide the doors of freedom and an untarnished acceptance is far truer than the lies of an old hog-tied shame. I don’t have to keep investigating how the mess happened, I just need to fix my eyes on Christ.
This idea sort of spins my preconceived ideas of being inclusive on its head. I am not honoring anyone because I attempt to make them welcome to sit with me. That’s a temporary fix for the shame and judgment most of us keep in our back pockets. Sitting with me is nothing unless I’m sitting with Christ. So, from now on, when I say, “you can sit with me,” what I really mean is, “Join me! I’m sitting with Christ!”