Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and it’s time for Joni and Friends.
Recently I lost something very precious to me – I was flying to the east coast and while I was making my transfer onto the plane, I had to leave my handbag on the jetway next to my wheelchair. Well, when the flight attendant brought in my purse, my little address book must have fallen out, because when I got to the hotel that night and looked for it, it was gone. We called the airlines and the airport, but no one had turned it in. And so, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been going through my files and old business cards trying to recapture as many names and addresses as I can to scribble them in a new address book.
And as I’ve rummaged through files and letters and contacts folder on my computer, ferreting through all this information, I can’t believe how many names I’ve accumulated over the years – actually, to be honest, I’m kind of glad I’m starting over, because my old address book was filled with people whose names I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t recognize any longer. I had put circles around some names, and asterisked important people, like my doctor and pharmacist, but there were other names in my address book I didn’t even have a clue about. I had put lines through the names of some people and their addresses… and others, well, since my old address book had gotten rained on many times, some of those names were blurred beyond recognition. But many names I just didn’t know. I’m a little embarrassed about that – I keep thinking those people probably assume I know them very well, but if I met them on the street corner I’d be at a loss.
Unlike me – I’m so glad – God takes our names so seriously. He makes a big thing about our names, and I am so relieved that God’s Book of Life doesn’t resemble my old address book that I lost with all its erasures and unreadable names in smeared or faded ink. Revelation 20 talks about this book of life of God’s. And elsewhere in that same book it says that “Everyone who conquers will be clothed in white, and I will not erase his name from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that he is mine.” Do I love that verse, or what?! Unlike some address books, God’s isn’t collecting dust. God’s address book is in use. It’s the Book of Life and I like the way that verse in Revelation assures us that Jesus will not erase our name from it. Because once your name is recorded, once you are listed under “C” for “Child of God,” you’ll never have to worry about the Lord ripping out your page in disgust over some stupid sin or worry about him blotting out your name out of sheer distain. No, thankfully, the Book of Life isn’t jam-packed with names that Jesus can’t remember. You’re not old “what’s-her-name” to him.
Here on earth, there are plenty of books around with a lot of names in them – academic honor rolls, the Los Angeles telephone directory, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Who’s Who in American Business. But you know what? Those names – and the people they represent – are all too quickly forgotten, aren’t they? Not so with God’s Book of Life. If your name is entered in God’s Book – and it is if you claim Jesus as your Savior and Lord and live like it – then take a moment right now to praise him for this wonderful fact. And while you’re at it, just consider what God used to write your name in his book – he has penned down your name in permanent ink – that is, the blood of his Son. So until the next time we meet here for Joni and Friends, thank him – and thank him often – that there are no erasers in heaven.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends