Is Jesus Accusing or Accepting?

“The minimum bar to be enfolded into the embrace of Jesus is simply: open yourself up to him.”

Dane Ortlund

Dane also says: “The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but open arms.”

I’m 52.

I met Jesus when I was 9, but I didn’t turn from my ways to follow Him until I was 28–puddled in a pit of despair, broken beyond what I could fix.

I definitely imagined Jesus with a pointed finger, because honestly, that’s what I knew I deserved for all my defeat-on-repeat failures to do better where sin was out of control in my heart and life.

When God got ahold of my heart—whether I did it to check off a box on my good Christian checklist or because it has become the bread that nourishes my heart and soul and gives me true life—I made a daily commitment to set aside time in the morning to study God’s word. Even when my motive was and still can be to make myself feel as if I’ve done something worthy before God, He uses His word to transform my thinking, and I see the answer to His prayer to the Father in John 17:17:

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I still default to a “pointed finger” expectation when confronted with how short I come and far I have to go to have a pure heart before the Lord—especially in the most secret places where I struggle with hurt and offense, fear and insecurity, loss and rejection. But as I continue to commit to sit with God in the quiet of my day, He is working Himself into the fibers of my being. I am learning to rest in the complete work of the cross. It is finished. My salvation is finished. There is nothing more to do. Even when I mess up and God opens my eyes to the depths of my selfish nature and desire to control my world to my satisfaction and comfort, I am beginning to believe in my heart that Jesus’ arms are wide open to me to turn back at any time no matter what. I am learning to be with Jesus and not just do what I think I should for Him. I’m learning to relax in Him, because He’s already done it all, and He is the one who will complete the work He started.

And I’m finding that open arms are much gentler than the figurative sledgehammer I was used to.

Thank You, Father. Thank You, Jesus. I pray for the person who is reading this and totally relates, that they will know You as gentle and lowly, arms open wide, and that they will open themselves to You. That they will rest in the complete work of their redemption and salvation on the cross and relax in You. Purify our hearts as You sanctify us with Your truth. Jesus, it is because of Your blood that I come boldly in faith, and in Your name I pray. Amen.