That Red Pen

I know this may not appeal to my grammar-loving friends, but that’s why I love you. You have a gift that allows me to say, “Here, take this and mark it up, please.” Sure, we have modern technology to correct us these days, but there’s nothing quite like having a friend who’s smarter than you take a red pen to your page.

I was the one in school who loved talking more than paying attention (and my grades showed it!). I was the kid who played outside until it was time for dinner and who wasn’t very good at English. Hence, the title of this blog post.

I say “ya’ll” and still sometimes struggle with their, there, and they’re. One thing’s for sure…I’m me. The real deal at home, at church, and in the ministry I serve. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The other morning, during my quiet time with the Lord, reading His Word, reflecting, and praying, the concept of the red pen came to mind, and I was completely undone.

The red pen reminded me that I mess up, that I have faults, and that I cannot write to save my life. Ha! But God!

Sometimes, when we have religion instead of a relationship with Jesus, we develop a distorted view of how the Lord sees us or how we view Him. We start to believe He’s marking up our lives with His big red pen…just waiting to catch every mistake, ready to call us out.

But that’s not who He is.

Now, I will say this: if you haven’t entered into a relationship with Him, if you haven’t been saved, one day you will encounter Him as Judge. And apart from Him, you will be eternally separated from His presence forever. That’s a somber thought, and one I don’t want anyone to experience that.

He desires a relationship with you. He wants to know you and be close to you. Through a saving relationship with Jesus, you can have that closeness and you can have it today.

When you read His Word, when you pray, when you worship, when you connect with a local body of believers, you experience Him as Father. You desire to please Him. You welcome His correction because you don’t want to do anything that hurts His heart.

When we experience Him that way, the red pen takes on a whole new meaning. It reminds me of the song by Crowder called “Red Letters.” (You should put that one on repeat today!)

There’s a different kind of red that should cause you to stand a little taller, look to Him in all things, and be ready to share the hope you have in Him.

That red is His blood, the price He paid on the cross at Calvary for you and me. His body was beaten beyond recognition. For what? For you, for me, for the whole world. He willingly died a gruesome death and paid our debt…our sin. He took our sin, that’s worth repeating… He took OUR SIN, upon Himself so that we could be free. His blood poured out so that all the red marks, our sin, could be erased, forgiven, remembered no more.

But it didn’t end there. He not only died the death we all deserved; He was buried, He arose on the third day, and He’s coming back again.

And with that, He gave you and me the freedom to choose Him. Someone did that for you! Not just any someone, Jesus! When you enter into a relationship with Him, He takes all your sin, and because of His shed blood on the cross, He remembers it no more. That’s the kind of God I serve!

Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV) says:

“No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

You can be freed from all your red marks today—the sin that’s been holding you back. You are tired of spinning your wheels expecting a different result. You are ready for true change. A change of heart, mind, will, and emotions. He is ready to do that for you.

Romans 10:9 says,

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Oh, what a Savior! Taking communion holds more weight when you realize as a believer and follower of Jesus just what we are doing in remembrance of Him.

Luke 22:19-20 says, “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which was shed for YOU! As we drink the cup, we should remember that His blood, His life was poured out on Calvary for us.

I’m so grateful that today, He can take those red marks on our life and make us clean.

In the words of the song, “Red Letters”, let this wash over you today!

For God so loved the whole wide world

Sent His only Son to die for me

Arms spread wide for the whole wide world

His arms spread wide where mine should be

Jesus changed my destiny

Thank You, God, for red letters

When the ground began to shake

The grace of God started falling

And I became a free man that day

The prison walls started falling

And I am a free man today!

We serve a good God!