Recommendation

This afternoon as I unloaded the dishwasher, I thought about letters of recommendation. I am at a stage in my life when I am beginning to ask people to write them for me.

Honestly, I really like reading them. It’s nice to read nice things about oneself.

I had finished with the dishwasher and was on to a peanut butter and banana sandwich when the thought hit me: What would God write in a letter of recommendation for me? What would He say about me?

This might be how He would introduce me. Even as an introduction, it is by no means exhaustive (to do that I would basically have to quote the entire Bible).

He created me in His own image (Genesis 1:27). He knit me together in my mother’s womb and every day of my life was recorded in His book before I even began to live them (Psalm 139:13, 16). He chose me before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

He made me His own (Philippians 3:12). He adopted me as His child and heir (Galatians 4:5-7). He qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:12). He transferred me into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). He gave me citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20). He desires that I be with Him and see His glory (John 17:24).

You might have noticed that every sentence begins with the word “He.” That is because my righteousness is not my own, but, as Paul declares, “that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9).