Fleshing out a whole page titled "About Me" feels, I have to tell you, a little narcissistic--and a little intimidating. How exactly do I encapsulate myself? (Am I the only one for whom this causes a mini identity crisis?) Well, let's see...
I'm 26 years old, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor, and an employee.
I'm a writer/editor (by degree), a receptionist (by current employment), and a baker/cake-decorator (by hobby and side work; see my other blog).
I'm a little goofy and a little serious. I have a great love for literature, hiking, Reformed theology, star-gazing, spontaneous dance parties, and Peanut Butter M&Ms. I eat cereal out of plastic cups and ice cream out of coffee mugs and equally like to quote Puritan theologians, classic poets, and Chuck Norris.
But those things really only touch the surface, don't they? And the fact of the matter is that "me" ultimately isn't about any of those things anyway, because "me"...well, isn't about me. I belong to Someone Else. Here's why:
Like every other human being, I was created by God, in His image and for His praise and glory. But (also like every other human being), I was born fallen--a sinner by nature and by action, a rebel against my Creator, with my sin separating me from Him, the perfectly Holy One. Because God is holy and just, He must punish sin—and the punishment is eternal separation from Him in hell. Talk about a tragedy: I was created by Him and for Him, intended for relationship with Him, and lost without Him...but unable (and unwilling) to come to Him because of my sin. And the kicker is that no work I could ever do, no amount of "goodness" or penitence or religious effort on my part EVER could change that. I was hopeless.
BUT I am so thankful that God, in extravagant and completely undeserved grace, sovereignly purposed to redeem me--to make me one of His children. In love, He sent a Savior, His Son, to take the punishment that I deserved; Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that I never could have--perfectly fulfilling God's righteous law on my behalf. And what's more, He stood in my place and took my sin, and its penalty, on Himself--He bore God's wrath on the cross for me and died and was buried. And then He rose again, victorious, showing His power over sin and death.
I'm thankful that God gave me a Christian family who exposed me to these truths, through God's Word, from the time I was a little girl. In His perfect timing, God's Spirit regenerated my heart to grant me repentance from my sin and faith in the work Jesus did on my behalf. He opened my eyes and gave life where there had been nothing but death.
That's a tremendous exchange--Christ taking my sin and giving me His righteousness, taking my old life and giving me a brand-new one--and that's why my "About Me" really has to be "About Him." Because I'm not my own; I was bought with a very high price, and my identity is wrapped up in Him. It's all for Him. And He so deserves it.
Of course, there's a whole lot more that can be said about that! And that's sort of the point of this blog. Hopefully what I write here just expounds on it--my little "meanderings" as I daily experience what it's like to know Jesus Christ and to be living life in Him, by Him, and for Him. All praise TO Him!
