Sharing

Some time ago, I remember feeling taken aback when a Christian Facebook page featured a post from a lady who had done a beautiful meme of Isaiah 41:10.  "This is my life verse," she said.  

I felt somehow usurped because Isaiah 41:10 is my life verse.  Of course I quickly subdued the childish idea that anything in the Bible is exclusively mine and mine alone, but...isn't it?  

The Bible often speaks directly and uniquely to some specific need we have brought to the Lord. Verses jump out at us, find a responsive chord in our hearts, and we know the Lord has spoken to us. We feel uniquely loved when this happens because we know the Lord has seen our need and has responded. How amazing to be covered by His love in this way!   

In her sermon this morning, our pastor stated that Isaiah 40 is one of her favorites. It is also one of mine!  I've come a bit further down the God-lit path of understanding than the day I felt an initial unwillingness to share my life verse with a fellow sister in Christ, and today I was able to recognize that Isaiah 40:1-2 does not belong exclusively to any one Christian, but is a statement of the comfort available to all God’s people. It is like one big comforter, or blanket, and we all can partake of its shelter.  

Under this covering of grace, there is no sharing involved in the way we tend to think. From childhood, we've learned that "You need to share" means that we aren't going to get as much as we would like to have because we have to allow others a portion of the whole.  But in God’s Kingdom, the whole blanket belongs to all who avail themselves of its shelter. That others also are sheltered by the same grace given us does not diminish each of our personal claims to its warmth; that others are warmed by God's covering does not cause any one of us to be less warm.  

There is a wonderful unity shared by those who are sheltered beneath the same blanket of grace. No matter our differences, we are under the same covering of His love.  Lord, help us find our unity with one another through You as we share the grace You have provided us through Jesus Christ.  Amen!