I had this moment the other night that took its time gripping me. It wrung me out with a truth that sent me to my knees.
I say it often, and I think it daily: Jesus is the prize. If he isn’t the prize, then I have missed the mark. It doesn’t matter what it is. If it’s in cooking dinner. Loving my children. Decorating my house. Driving my car. Planting flowers. Talking to friends. In everything that I do, in all that I have or give, Jesus is the prize. He is the reason for my life.
I’ve said it so often recently that it’s almost become monotonous. Not as monumental as the moment I took it and ran. A truth that slowly had begun to feel dull, as though I wasn’t polishing my silver enough.
Let’s look back to the cross for the moment, the definitive event in Christianity. Jesus took the sins of the world upon his shoulders, was mocked, scorned, beaten, and nailed to a cross to die. “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they are doing.”
And I’ve considered this hundreds of times, I am sure: How much Jesus must have loved me at that time, or the words to the song How Great Thou Art playing through my mind. Another truth that grows duller with time. I neglect to polish it in my efforts to remember.
It’s easy to say that He loves us. It’s written so many times in the Bible. But I want to remind you of this:
As you think of Jesus as the prize, remember that you are His prize.
You are a prize.
Don’t believe it? Remember the cross. He didn’t die just for the show, sweet friend. He died to win you. To love you.
Polish your truths with me.
Remember why we can live the way we live.
Let His radiance shine like silver.
You are His prize, sister. And He loves you.
JANELLE DELAGRANGE 