As 2015 draws to a close, I am reminded of Momma’s famous line from “Forrest Gump”:
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
But if I were to come up with some proverbial life-food analogy of my own, I’d say,
“Life is like an onion.”
If lived well, its many layers get peeled away slowly, gently, timely…just one leaf at a time. A few tears will be shed, and a few surprises – perhaps some bruising inside – may be discovered along the way. Even so, a good onion, after surviving some heat, will ultimately be sweet, not bitter, spicy, or sour.
When I look back at my life, and especially at 2015, I see that I was a carefully tended onion, finally ripe for the picking. Layer by layer, God’s been peeling away the outer skins (appearances), the fronts, the worldly “band-aids,” and exposing the baggage, the flaws, the fears and insecurities. I won’t lie. Some of it, no – much of it, has been painful and uncomfortable. And more than a few tears were shed along the way. But above all, it has been liberating and healing.
We’re still not done with all the “peeling” – God and me. But for the first time in my life, I’m genuinely excited for when we get done. Why? ‘Cause for the first time, I’m 100% confident that the core of this old onion – my heart, my soul, my innermost being – will be found to be good. pure. blameless. holy even. And not because of anything I ever was or am or did or will do. But simply because of what Jesus has done for me. He’s made me presentable – no, more than presentable – perfect, before the Father. There is no need, ever, to cover my face in shame, shake my head in disappointment, or hang my head in hopelessness.
When He died on the cross for all my mistakes, flaws, failures – past, present and future – it was a one-time, clean-sweep, no taking back kind of deal.
No conditions.
No “so long as you don’t do this or that.”
No “so long as you never slip up again.”
No “so long as everyone else thinks you’re a good person…or good enough.”
Nope. Amazingly, anyone and everyone who genuinely admits that: (1) they can’t do right by God on their own, (2) Jesus, who loved us enough to leave his divinity behind in heaven to come rescue us, did right by God for us when he died to pay the penalty for our sins, and (3) we are justified before God and reconciled to Him once and for all only by faith in Jesus – is invited into a most fulfilling friendship with God during this life here on earth and into blissful eternity with God afterwards.
What’s more, that invitation, or gift, can never be stolen, forfeited, or retracted. What happy assurance! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate and welcome a new year than with that great old hymn from 1873:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, all is at rest!
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
I praise you and thank you for a tough but blessed 2015, Lord. Can’t wait to see what you’ll peel and reveal in 2016.
Awesome. Love this so much!