By His Stripes
November 14, 2023
Recently, I have been in complete adoration that we get to be children in every season of our lives for the rest of our lives. We never have to miss the opportunity to learn who we belong to. It may sound absurd but hear me out… While we cannot go back to our newborn and childhood days on earth, giving our lives to Jesus is a new birth in itself and we can walk in child-like faith every day.
“‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit…’” (John 3:4-6).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Put on your safari hat and tie your closed-toe shoes because we’re going into some wilderness science for a minute. Picture a zebra in your mind. Each zebra has a pattern of stripes that is distinctive to the individual. When a zebra gives birth to her foal, she and the baby purposefully isolate from the herd for a few days. It is so crucial for the mother zebra and the foal to have this sacred time together, as it allows the baby to learn its mother’s unique pattern of stripes. This means that the foal can confidently find its mother in the chaotic herd if it were to wander off. Praise God for His intentionality in every single detail of creation! This can be no coincidence.
You can take off your hat now, we’re bringing it back to reality. The goal of the newborn phase is to take the time to learn and know who our Father is. And we can go back to that intimacy even now. Our Father desires for us to know Him. Do you know the stripes of Jesus? Can you recognize His voice and discern His call to not conform to the patterns of this world? Can you recognize the scars on His hands when the enemy is trying to hinder your healing? No matter our age or season of life, Jesus calls us His beloved children. He wants to take us away from the danger of the herd, hold us close, and show us His stripes. For it is by His stripes that we have been healed. It is by His stripes that we have been saved. It is by His stripes that we have been adopted. It is by His stripes that we have been welcomed into Heaven. Let Him hold you close. Will you be His child and get to know Him as your Father?
If we don’t know the perfect, all-powerful stripes of our Lord and Savior, how can we find Him in the midst of our world, our herd, that is so quickly turning from the truth? More and more and more of the world is calling us to leave our faith behind. There are so many things presenting us with a different pattern of stripes. Satan will try to speak and appear as close to God as he can, and if you don’t know the stripes of your Father, he will play you for a fool.
But we have a Creator who is our Father, our King, our Friend, our Counselor, our Protector. And He created you. He wants you. He chose you. Jesus took on the cross to bear our sin and brokenness so that we can have eternal life in Heaven, but also so that we can live an abundant life on earth, despite our circumstances. Abundant life comes from knowing who God is, so that when the tribulation comes, we don’t lose sight of Him and who we are in Him.
I look at that picture of myself as a little girl and it brings tears to my eyes to think about how Jesus would talk to her, crown her as His daughter, celebrate her adoption into His kingdom, and die to give her a life that produces that smile on her face. The beautiful thing is, His love for me is no different today than it was then. All of what He would say to and do for that little girl still holds true to what He says to me and does for me today. And there’s nothing I could ever do to earn that or deserve that kind of love. But in knowing the stripes of my Lord and Savior, I get to live an abundant life as I fix my gaze on who He is.
Do you know the stripes of Jesus?