Ever wished you had a strong, older brother to stand up for you?
I am a first born … there was never that protective older brother standing, like a guard dog, between myself and potential dangers. I remember, as a child then as a teenager, I dreamed of having an older brother, with the physique of a body guard.
Maybe there are just times when we do not want to be the one that is counted on, but the one who is counting on another? Maybe we long to be small? Maybe we look to be free of responsibility? Or, maybe, we are just looking for evidence that our back is covered?
Lately I have been listening to a song, when I am writing. The purpose has more to do with drowning the noises of the house, so that my (undiagnosed) ADHD does not rule my attention like a squirrel is tree surfing behind our house for my beast. As I was writing a post the other day, in frustration and discouragement (see the post in the upper left corner, From Bad to Worse), the following lines penetrated my mind:
“When condemnation grips my heart
And Satan tempts me to despair
I hear the voice that scatters fear
The great I am, the Lord is here
Oh praise the one who fights for me
And shields my soul eternally”
Like the filling of a God-shaped vacuum, through Christ we have the protection, the support, the redemption that we innately long for. We long for Him, and He longs for us.
And the beauty of this, healthy, co-dependent relationship, is that it is not dependent on anything that we do, or don’t do, or the family we have been born into, it is simply dependent on our acceptance of Him, so that we can boldly approach the throne of God … as though accompanied by a big brother.
“There is no condemnation,
for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1
itsawonderfilledlife 