The Battered Bunny

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

    Recently, my daughter and her family went on a trip to the Netherlands. Daily, my husband and I looked forward to her photographs, which so beautifully documented their journey. Since my ancestors emigrated from that area, I especially loved the stoic windmills which stood guard over the feminine shops, whose windows displayed bundles of fresh lavender or oodles of baked goods. Colorful rows of wooden clogs awaited a curious tourist who wished to experience stomping about in this native footwear. 

    Soon, the photographs included a stuffed blue bunny, which her parents had bought for Esme, our soon-to-be-two-year-old granddaughter. We smiled warmly to see her hydrating Bunny, sharing her own sippy cup with him. Her chubby arms tightened 'round his neck as the family wheeled her stroller across cobblestone streets, pausing to hear a street musician.

    Then came a photo of blue Bunny bearing smudges and rips, his stuffing expelled, his expression forlorn. Oh, no! As my daughter later explained, when the family had stopped for the night, it became clear that Bunny had been lost. After her father made a careful search for the toy, it had been run over by a tram, but before Esme realized it, a replacement Bunny had been purchased!

    Don't you just love happy endings? God does as well. Such is the story of the Gospel, plain and simple. We begin life battered, born in a sinful, willful state, separated from God. We cannot come into God's holy presence dirty. When we recognize our inability to cleanse ourselves, when we have lost our way and confess our need of a Savior, something truly fantastic happens! We become a new creation. Brand new and improved! We still look the same on the outside, but new life springs from within, like Esme's replacement Bunny. 

    The Bible tells us it's by His stripes that we are healed. The punishment that brought us peace was laid upon Him. Jesus was "run over by the tram" for us so that we might be declared whole and new, ready to be embraced by the Father. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5