From Enemy to Heir Archives - Page 7 of 10

{12} Reflection

Day 12 of 31 Days. For Day 1, click on the photo above.

We have come to a turning point in our story. Everything leading up to this point was the story of Obscurity; now, we will be following the story of Jewel.

Before we do, I thought it would be good and appropriate to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve read so far. Just like I did on Day 7, I have created some questions based on the readings. You can use them for personal reflection or group discussion. If you have older children who have been reading along, this is a great opportunity to show them where this story can be found in Scripture.

Reflection Questions

1) In Day 8, the prince and Obscurity have a conversation about the difference between shame and being sorry (repentance). Have you ever thought about the difference between those two words? Read 2 Corinthians 7:8-10. Here, Paul is talking to the Corinthians about the sorrow they felt when he confronted them about their sin. What is the difference between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world?

2) Day 9 talks about the prince’s kingdom. Why is it important that the prince’s castle can be seen by everyone in the Enchanter’s kingdom? Read Romans 1:19-20 for a clue.

3) I spend some time talking about work in Day 9. Summarize my description. Do you think your labor is important? Do you think it brings glory to God? If it doesn’t, why not? Do you wonder if your particular role is more or less important than others? Is this attitude correct? If you’re not sure, check out 1 Corinthians 12, particularly verses 20-26. Now read Ephesians 4:11-16. What does God’s Word say is the purpose for these differences among us?

4) Depending on your understanding of man in relationship to God, you may have had a hard time with Obscurity’s complete lack of redeemable qualities. I chose to make her the most vile creature the people had ever seen to highlight the fact that we can offer nothing to God in exchange for our salvation. We owe Him everything, and if we boast, it is in what He has done in and through us. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 is a great reminder of who we were before Christ, and who gets the credit for the person we are after.

5) How do you react when sinners come to church? If you see a man who obviously hasn’t taken a shower in days, or woman who looks strung out, or a gaggle of neighborhood kids who are rude and disruptive during the service, how is your heart toward them?

6) The prince’s marriage vows came from Hosea 2:19-20, Deuteronomy 31:6, and Matthew 28:20. It was important to me to include the words of Hosea because they are a love song to a harlot. Over and over again, God compares His people to a harlot because over and over again, we leave our Prince to seek out idols of our own. But God chose us, knowing who we are, and redeemed us anyway. It is an amazing story!

7) What is the importance of name? Your parents gave you a name when you were born, but what about the name inside your head? Maybe it is something good like Mommy, Artist, or Joy-filled. Or perhaps it is a name you wear with shame: Can’t-Have-Children, Chronic Spender, Lazy. One of the great promises of the Bible is that God is going to give us each a new name, one that speaks of our true identity in Him. Isaiah 62:2 is one of those promises. You can read Revelation 2:17, 3:12 as well. God already knows your name! What do you long to hear Him call you?

8) The praises of the people reach all the way to the Enchanter’s kingdom. Praise the Lord. When we praise the Lord, even in whispers, the enemy hears it in shouts, and he trembles. Psalm 150 is a very short, but very powerful reminder that we should give thanks to God in everything. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!”

9) Make an effort to remember both sides of your story today. You cannot have the Jewel without the Obscurity. Be reminded of the awesome, incomprehensible love of God toward you!

10) My prayer for us today comes from Paul, who more than anyone else in Scripture, knew how to pray for those who were once in darkness. He himself was a vile offender, the worst of sinners, a persecutor of the church, but Jesus found him and rescued him and gave him a new name. Hear what he has to say to all of us.

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,

from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,

to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;

and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be able to comprehend with all the saints

what is the breadth

and length

and height

and depth,

and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,

that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,

according to the power that works within us,

to Him be the glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen.

Ephesians 3:14 – 21

*Join us tomorrow for Day 13

{11} Lovely with His Love

Day 11 of 31 days. Click on the image above to read the beginning of the story.

Just as soon as the prince finished his marriage vows, the crowd erupted in applause. They could not contain themselves any longer. What a glorious morning it had been! The cheering turned into singing and the singing into dancing. People spilled out of the courtyard and into the streets, laughing and dancing and enjoying the goodness of their prince.

The couldn’t stop talking about how their prince had rescued an enemy from the other side of the gates, brought her home, and transformed her into an entirely new creature. She was beautiful, but now they could see that her beauty was nothing compared to his glory.

In fact, they could not take their eyes off him. He had not changed overnight like his bride had, but his visage was sharper, as if a bit of a veil had been taken off and they were seeing his features more clearly than every before.

Even Jewel, the woman once called Obscurity, noticed. The prince’s face was radiant like the sun.

She felt that she was radiant too, just because she was near him, and she marveled because he had chosen her to help make himself known. Jewel realized, then, that this wedding was not about her. It was about him.

He had shown them a trick that only he could do, and it was so amazing, their shouts of astonished exultation reached all the way to the edges of the Enchanter’s land. He cringed when he heard it because only the prince could take something so broken and make her worthy of the bride she had become. Only the prince could take a joke, a cosmic shock, and turn it into something so glorious.

But the most amazing thing was, he did it out of love. He was able to look past everything Obscurity was and was not, and love her anyway. He loved her even before she was clean and beautiful, even before the jewel had been polished out of the rough. Now she stood before the people, able to love and be lovely because of what he did for her.

Of course, the people had not understood at first. But now they saw it clear as anything. This was their story. This is what their prince had done for each one of them too. He had loved them before they were lovely and had given them a home and an inheritance and a new name. He had made them lovely with his love.

How could any of them have missed it?

Well, they reasoned, it was so long ago, and when the prince called them to come to his kingdom, they were not nearly as unworthy as she. They were not as bad as Obscurity.

Then over time, each person had settled in to life and work in the kingdom, and they began to think that they deserved to be there. Some actually thought that the prince opened his gates for them because they were so good and useful. He needed them.

They forgot their own dirty clothes, their own mud-caked feet, and their own stubborn hearts. They forgot the details of their own rescue.

But here it was, played out before them in shocking allegory. There was nothing in them worthy of rescue. There was nothing clean or beautiful or good. It was only and always the goodness of the prince that was able to bring about anything good in them.

Jewel’s story was their story. They had known that part. But what they had forgotten was that Obscurity’s story was theirs too.

And you can’t have one without the other.

It was a hard but beautiful reminder of the character of the prince who rescued them, the despised and the forgotten ones. The parts of their stories that were the ugliest–the parts they wanted to forget–were the very same parts that made him most glorious. Because only their prince could write an ending like that. Only their prince could make them lovely with his love.

{10} The Bride

Day 10 of 31 Days. Click on the photo for the beginning of the story.

“This is my bride,” the prince said.

No one said a word. Stunned silence filled the air. Somewhere in the back row, an eligible young maiden fainted.

Obscurity’s face was pale and her eyes large. Had she missed the proposal?

“Come to the town square tomorrow,” the prince said with obvious joy, “and join in my marriage celebration!”

Then he beckoned for his maids to attend to Obscurity and to his butler to prepare her quarters. His own tailor was given charge over her dress and the chefs scrambled off to prepare a feast.

Apparently, the kingdom was throwing a wedding, and there wasn’t a moment to waste.

The next day, the town square was packed. Who would miss it? Their beloved prince was planning to marry some homeless woman he’d found in a ditch on the way home from work. It was the most horrific thing that had ever happened in that kingdom. Ever. It had to be some kind of joke, the people reasoned. It couldn’t be real.

But what if it was? What if their beloved prince was going to marry one of the enemy? And not just any enemy, but the most vile enemy any of them had ever laid eyes on.

It wasn’t a joke. At precisely 10 am, the prince stepped out onto the balcony of the castle with his bride on his arm. An audible gasp rose from the crowd.

Obscurity was completely unrecognizable.

She didn’t look anything like the creature they had seen the day before. In fact, she looked like an entirely new person. The mud and matted hair were gone. The filth and stench of the Enchanter’s kingdom had been washed away.

Now, she was dressed in the most dazzling white gown. Her hair was done up with flowers, and pure joy shone in her eyes. Obscurity looked every bit like a princess fit to marry their beloved prince. She was radiant.

The crowd erupted in applause. The prince had performed a miracle right in front of their eyes.

Everyone began talking at once. They looked and pointed and marveled at the bride. Could it be the same woman?

The prince and his bride stood before the people, who struggled to gain some sense of respectful composure after the shocking surprise. He raised his hands to quiet them.

It was time for the marriage ceremony to begin.

The prince turned to Obscurity, and the people waited for her to say her vows. But Obscurity had nothing to say. What could she give to a prince? Nothing, not even a promise.

The prince knew his bride had nothing to offer. So he took her hands in his and spoke vows that were strong enough for both of them. They were the covenant promises only he could keep.

“I will betroth you to me forever,” he said, quoting the ancient scrolls the people knew and loved.

“I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice,

in loving-kindness and in compassion.

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.

I will never leave you or forsake you.

I will be with you always,

Even to the very end of the earth.”

Then he slipped a ring on her finger as a seal of his love and a promise of even greater things to come, saying, “Now, you are no longer an alien or an enemy. You are a fellow citizen, along with all these saints, and you belong to me.”

Every eye glistened. Even the old castle guard wiped a stray tear from his cheek.

“There’s just one more thing,” the prince said, taking hold of her hands once again. “You will no longer be called Obscurity, for that is not the name I chose for you. It is not who you are, nor who you were meant to be.”

Obscurity felt her throat close tight. Up until that moment, she had not realized how much she longed to shed the name that had followed her all her life. It was a name that reminded her that she had been born in enemy land. It spoke of her worthlessness. She was forgotten, unlovely, and unworthy.

The prince looked into her eyes, and Obscurity shrunk a little. She wondered if she really wanted to hear her new name because she was not long changed from who she once was.

The prince smiled. “You are my treasure, my bride. You are my jewel. That is who you are, and that is your true name.”

Jewel. It was not the name she expected and it was not a name she deserved. Tears streamed down her face. Obscurity was dead, and a Jewel stood in her place.

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