Here

use to point us out to His Father. I can As I read this part, I did what I often
just see Him discussing bringing me do while reading or listening to stories:
into the kingdom.
I put myself in the leading character’s
“That’s her!” He’d say, beaming as shoes. I thought, If that were my husband,
He’d point me out to God the Father. I would leave him. I am not saying that is
“Which one?” He’d respond. Now, at the right thing to
this point there are a million things do, and I am not
Jesus could use to identify me. He could saying that is
point me out as the girl that’s been a what everyone
hypocrite or the same girl who stole else should do. I
that ankle bracelet from the convenience
store in ninth grade and to this what I think I
am simply saying
day has never been caught for it. The would do in this
girl who threw up all over her twin bed situation.
the first time she got drunk in high
In Lucado’s
school, or that girl who lost her cool book the couple
and spewed a few choice words when is on vacation
she got cut off on the highway (and that together, reflecting and crying, and trying
to figure out how to move forward.
one was more recent than I’d like to
admit).
The woman is trying to figure out if she
We try not to tell each other about can move on from this infidelity. Lucado
Shirt
our shortcomings because we fear we
will lose respect. We keep things from
one another, sometimes even from our
closest friends, for fear that if they
found out they wouldn’t see us anymore,
and they’d just see the sin.
I Forgive You. Let’s Move on
I read a devotional entry once by Max
Lucado in his book Just Like Jesus, in
which he talked about a personal friend
who had had an affair. The affair had
happened more than a decade earlier,
and the husband never confessed it.
When his wife finally did find out, 10
years later, they dropped everything and
took a trip together to put out the noise
of the world and focus on each other
and their relationship.
On that card is
a note penned
from the hand
of Christ that
reads: “I forgive
you. I love you.
Let’s move on.”
says this: “In this case the wife was
clearly in the right. She could have left.
Women have done so for lesser reasons.
Or she could have stayed and made his
life a living hell. Other women have
done that. But she chose a different
response.”
“On the tenth night of their trip my
friend found a card on his pillow. On
the card was a printed verse: ‘I’d rather
do nothing with you than something
without you.’ Beneath the verse she had
written these words: I forgive you. I love
you. Let’s move on.”
I was struck by this story, because in
the character of this woman I recognized
the character of Christ. Romans
3:23 reminds us: “For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.”
Red Shirts All
We do not deserve Christ. We have hurt
Him, we have disgraced Him, we have
betrayed Him, and if He came back right
now, I believe many of us would crucify
Him all over again. If
you are sunk in the
guilt of your past, so
much so that you
cannot breathe or
move, lie still, because
Jesus wants you. On
your pillow is a card,
and on that card is a
note penned from the
hand of Christ that
reads: “I forgive you. I
love you. Let’s move on.”
Jesus, the one whom they called
Christ, is so good, because everything
we have done, every secret sin He’s seen
us do in the dark, means nothing to
Him the second we have sincerely
repented and sought His forgiveness.
I’m not perfect, but at least I know what
a loser I am; and because of that, I am
forced to seek His shelter and guidance
every morning the second my eyelids
open. Yes, there are a million different
things Jesus could use to point me out
to the Father. Lucky for me, He’ll just
stand there beaming, proud to point me
out in the crowd. And the single characteristic
that He notices that would distinguish
loser me from a roomful of
saints is my red shirt.
In heaven we’ll all be wearing red. It
will be the color for every season. Trust
me, no matter what you’ve done or
where you’ve been, you can still seek the
refuge of Christ, and when you do, stand
tall and be proud to slip on that beautiful,
distinguishable, bright-red shirt.
“That’s My friend!” Jesus will say,
smiling. “The one washed in the blood
of the Lamb.” n
Heather Thompson Day is
working on her Ph.D. at
Andrews University. Her most
recent book is Cracked Glasses,
the Review and Herald’s 2013
young adult devotional.
www.AdventistReview.org | March 14, 2013 | (215) 23