the promise we have

My Jesus, My Savior, Lord there is none like you
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You

Darlene Szchech, Hillsong Music

We sang that song, Shout to the Lord, yesterday, and this morning I was praying, and I was thinking. If there is one thing I hope my life is able to do, it's make clear that we have a remarkable Savior. The world needs one. I think that's pretty obvious. All I could really do this morning was behold that truth and know, His life was unlike any other. The whole idea-God becoming a man? That so incredible I can't even put my mind around it. And what a Man. Someone no one could ever put a handle on, a rope around, set in a box, own, make into anything other than what He Himself claimed to be. He infuriated the religious folk of His day, loved the simple, touched the broken and bloodied, hated injustice but Himself became the One who let Himself be sentenced to serve the time for humans for all time, and gave His life for ours. The most perfect life ever lived, being laid down for the most imperfect.

When I feel like my life just isn't enough, when I feel like I can't do this, I can't make a difference, I just don't have anything good to give, I screw up relationships, can't love-I stand in the shadow of the Perfect One. I can't, but He can through me. When I really, completely understand this, I lose my fear. He was always there, but revealed Himself to me at a time in my life when I had nothing to give in return but my own fears and insecurities. He is always there. That's our promise, the last words He spoke, "For lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age". A hymn writer cried out in song, "Hallelujah, what a Savior!" If I can do the same, nothing else is needed. When life comes over us like a flood, He sets His bow in the sky-His promise to preserve humankind never ends.

In the cross of Christ I glory
Towering o'er the wrecks of time
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime