For a number of years now, I have been reading through the Bible in a year. Each January, as I start afresh with this annual discipline, I always ask myself whether I should embark on doing things differently, only to decide against it!
The reason is simple. It’s because the more I’m able to read through all the Scriptures, the more familiar they become, and the more I’m able to see how they fit together. But also because the more I read them, the more I get to know God, and the more I’m able to sense him speaking.
So, as we entered this new year, I found myself back in Matthew again – when two verses suddenly leapt off the page at me in ways I’ve never known previously.
Both can be found in Matthew 9:
“Take heart, son,” Jesus says to a paralysed man, “your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9: 2)
Then, a few verses later: “Take heart, daughter,” he says to a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, “your faith has healed you.” (Matthew 9: 22)
There is something profoundly personal and powerful in the way Jesus addresses these two people. Both of them have been unwell for many years. Both have risked everything to reach Jesus. Both have faith to believe he can heal them.
But before anything else, Jesus chooses to call out two things: their courage and their identity.
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Jesus calls out our courage
When we read the phrase, “Take heart” in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, it’s a clarion call to be courageous. It’s the opposite of being ‘faint-hearted’.
The call to, “Take heart” is as if Jesus is saying: “I am faithful and steadfast. Trust me in the midst of your difficulty and adversity. I see you, your situation and your need. You can find strength and solace in me. You don’t need to be fearful. You can be courageous because I am with you.”
Imagine how these two people must have felt, having Jesus see them, stop for them, and speak this phrase over them!
But there is also significance in why Jesus directs the call for courage towards the ‘heart’.
We’re not talking here about the heart as an organ, pumping blood through the body! Rather, we’re talking about the heart as the core of our being; the seat of our emotions and desires; the essence of who we are. It’s why we are told, in Proverbs 4: 23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Our hearts, in this sense, matter to God. It’s why the Bible mentions the heart nearly 1,000 times.
So, when Jesus says, “Take heart”, he is calling out courage in the core of our being.
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Jesus calls out our identity
But Jesus doesn’t just say, “Take heart”. He also says, “son” and “daughter”.
So he is not just calling out courage in the core of their being, but he is also calling out their identity in relationship to God.
It’s as if Jesus is saying: “You are part of God’s family. You are his son, his daughter, his children. You have been adopted into his family. He is your loving heavenly Father. You belong to him. You have nothing to fear.”
Imagine how these two people must have felt, having Jesus say this to them!
All they have done is express their faith in Jesus by coming into his presence – and in exchange, they have been granted status as God’s children. As John 1: 12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.“
This matters because, if we know who we are in relationship with God, if we are secure in our identity as his sons and daughters, we have every reason to be courageous and no reason at all to be afraid. As Paul says, in Romans 8: 15, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!‘”
So, when Jesus says, “son” and “daughter”, he is calling out our relationship with God, our identity as his children, our value to him, and the security we can have in him because of his love and acceptance.
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As we enter this new year, how courageous are you feeling, and how secure is your identity in Christ?
If you need courage for the year ahead, why don’t you pause for a moment and ask Jesus to give it to you? Allow him to say to the core of your being, “Take heart“.
And if you need to be reminded of who you are in Christ, why don’t you ask God to show you? Allow Jesus to speak to your identity, “Son” or “Daughter“.
As ever, constructive comments are welcome below.
Please note: This is my ‘thought for the month’ reflection for January. (You can find all my ‘thought for the month’ reflections here.)
Photo from Myriam Fotos via Pixabay.
