So I finally washed that rich red velour blanket I used to keep on my bed before I moved to NY this past summer. It was my winter go-to, and it's kept me warm in some crazy-cold places. I'm blessed with an amazingly winter-proof apartment now, but it wasn't always so :)
Around my 4th year in Boston, I moved to a nearby town called Brookline. It was this wonderfully charming neighborhood with lots of cute families, pretty parks and great pets. Well, except for the giant poodle names Jake who used to bark at me every time he passed by me. Anyway. Nice place :) My apartment, on the other hand, was the type that you write about in blogs :) It hadn't been renovated in awhile, and you could feel the remnants of the broken hardwood floors under the thin carpeting. My bedroom had a door to the fire escape, but it didn't close all the way, even with the sealing my roommate's dad put on it to fix it. Problematic in Boston where we get snow and subzero temperatures!
So there were some brutally cold nights. I invested in flannel sheets and a good comforter, but sometimes cold is just cold. I don't recall how I acquired this red blanket (I think an old roommate left it when she moved), but one day I started burrowing myself into it burrito-style before covering myself in the flannel sheets and comforter. At LAST! Snuggly refuge! I never needed to have another cold night that led to a sniffly morning! Glory!
Today as I took this blanket out of the dryer and folded it, God brought to mind a precious analogy. See, this blanket is a rich crimson color, like the blood Jesus allowed to be spilled for us. The Bible says that before we were rescued by Him, we were "without hope and without God in the world." Because the sin that lived in us separated us from Him, we didn't stand a chance against the cold, cruel things that assailed us. The lies about who we are as women (attractiveness=sex-saturated, which equals lovability), or the people who want to hurt us will dominate us without Him in our corner.
Our own best defense against these things is to harden our hearts and take a stance that says we'd kick butt if anyone comes near us. But that also forces us to judge others and assume they would hurt us, and it guards us against those who would help us. It's only as much protection as the flannel sheets and the comforter, both of which are only warm based on how quickly your body heats them up. In other words, our defenses are only as strong as we are, and if we are putting them on because we are weak, we're in trouble.
But the crimson blanket. OH, the crimson blanket. The sweetness of the blanket is that I wrapped it around my body, and it was about as close to me as it could get. Because of its fluffiness, it created air pockets around me that acted as insulation to keep out the cold.
In the same way, Jesus' shedding His blood meant restoring the safety and closeness of love in our lives. See, it's like this. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they took themselves out from under the trustworthy and caring authority of God and decided it would be better to figure out life on their own. The problem is that this is something Satan convinced them to do. So really, they placed themselves under Satan's authority, not their own. Of course, Satan is a liar, and the illusion of the enlightenment he told them they'd find vanished, leaving pain and bondage in its place. So now, Adam and Eve and the rest of us are under a cruel and cold taskmaster instead of a safe and protective God who loves.
The only way to get out from under this bondage is to pay a penalty of death. Obviously, if we are dead, we cannot be with God. :) So God knew this was a price no one could pay. We deserved what we got since He told us not to go astray beforehand. He knew that. But He also loved us so much. It pained His heart to see us not only go astray, but also to be unsafe. So He paid the price of leaving beautiful Heaven and of dying at the hands of hateful, accusatory people He'd once lovingly breathed His breath into. Then He rose from the dead, conquering the power of Satan to use and torture us ever again! All we do is accept His gift of doing what we couldn't do for ourselves, and we are restored to a sweet relationship with Him!
So now, even in the midst of a freezing cold Brookline apartment, or perhaps a rough marriage, a burdensome job, loneliness, or emptiness of life, we can come to our Papa without fear. He will wrap loving arms around us and defy anything that would sap our well-being! Like a blanket in the cold, He will comfort you.
Oh, the crimson blanket! If you want Jesus to wrap His crimson blanket of love around you, which He longs to, just ask Him!
Happy Cozy New Year, lovies! Enjoy a good musical illustration of enjoying His company!
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