Big Shoes to Fill

 "How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." Isaiah 64: 5, 6

    Kids like to play dress-up. I have a photo of myself in my dad's coat, hat and shoes when I was just a child, too inadequate to fill them. My father had some big shoes to fill, and though I wanted to be like him, I didn't have what it took. 

    George Jones sang a song entitled, "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?" He sang about the greats of country music, those irreplaceable legends who had made their mark in the world before they left it. Part of the chorus has this to say: "Who's gonna give their heart and soul to get to me and you? Lord, I wonder who's gonna fill their shoes?"

    Many centuries ago, when God made his covenant with Abram, he listed promises which He had committed to fulfill. All Abram had to do was to "walk before me faithfully and be blameless." (see Genesis 17: 1, 2) How could he, a sinner, (or any of his descendants, like us), fill those shoes? Of course, God already knew we were in need of rescuing.

    What we needed was Someone who could do just that. Someone blameless. That's when God sent his perfect Son to fill the shoes. He intervened on our behalf.

    "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear...The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak...The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins." (Isaiah 59: 2, 15-17, 20, emphasis mine)

    As a child of God, I am no longer inadequate. When I put on the righteous garments of Jesus, I am covered by his grace. The requirements have been fulfilled in Him, and the shoes fit Him perfectly. 

    Now I am dressed like my Father.

"He has sent me to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61: 1-3, 10