The Great Exchange

I know who I am.

I've seen beneath my fragile wrappings, and I know the depths of me.  I'm not blind; I will not close my eyes.  I have seen the swirl of inky darkness within myself, and I know what it means.

I'm ravaged, like all the rest.  It only took one invitation for evil to enter the world, and when it did, it devoured everything.  Whatever loveliness once existed, whatever joy or hope, is gone.  Now, there is only darkness.

The very first of us believed a lie, and every one of us since has fallen for it as well.  The same lie still hisses from the serpent's mouth into every ear:  It is not enough.  We bought the lie, and it ruined everything.  I bought the lie, and it ruined me.  This is all that remains.

I know who I am.

I am Eve, the rebel, who shattered the entire world with her own two hands.

I am Rahab, the sinner

          Ruth, the outcast

                    Tamar, the desperate

I am Mephibosheth, the orphan

          David, the fallen

                    Peter, the coward

                              Saul, the destroyer

I am the lost Ethiopian

          the broken Prodigal

                    the guilty Adulteress

The lie I believed has become my identity:  I am not enough.  I am shrunken and wasted, far less than what should be.  All that remains is what I am not.

And this was to be my end...until the day that He came for me.

The great I AM, the One who is everything, came and offered an exchange:

He would take my sin

          my brokenness

                    my darkness

                              my insufficiency

                                        my death

And, in exchange, He would give me His righteousness

          His wholeness

                    His light

                              His sufficiency

                                        His life

With shaking hands, I gathered up the wretchedness that I had become, timidly placed it in His arms, and watched Him take it to the cross.  There, the sky turned black as He bore the hell that I had created.  His death paid my ransom.  And as life returned to His lungs that resurrection morning, true life filled mine for the first time.

The exchange is complete, and I know who I am.

I am Eve, returned to the Garden

I am Rahab, the rescued

          Ruth, the redeemed

                    Tamar, the blessed

I am Mephibosheth, the adopted

          David, the cleansed

                    Peter, the restored

                              Paul, the called

I am the enlightened Ethiopian

          the returned Prodigal

                    the forgiven Adulteress

He has called me by name, and I am His.

I know who I am.  My name is Grace.

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

~II Corinthians 5:21