I wear a copper key around my neck every day. The word WORTHY is engraved on the front side. I purchased the key for myself a handful of months ago when I wanted a daily reminder of whose I am — my identity in Jesus. It’s all too easy getting caught up in every facet of life. And being a recovering perfectionist, I often get burdened by everything I’m not getting done, or how I’m doing it wrong, or how life just doesn’t feel like I think it should feel. An entire day can slip through my fingers before I realize I never stopped to be still and know that God is God. (Psalm 46:10). Sure, I know he’s there, and I may say small prayers throughout the busyness of the day. But if I never actually pause and switch my focus solely to him, my day — my heart — gets sucked into the abyss.
So I bought my key and gave it the name WORTHY. Now, any time I feel led by the day’s routine, any time I feel uncertain of who I am, any time I feel heartbroken for people and wonder when mercy will show, I hold my key and know. I am WORTHY. Because he says so. He is here, and I am his, and I can trust him with all the questions of my heart. And because of all of this, I am WORTHY to love. I am WORTHY to love people hard, and I am WORTHY to love myself with grace.
My key is a sort of symbol for communion.
Communion is an act, created and initiated by Jesus Christ himself, representing the entire picture of the Gospel. It’s exactly the covenant God foretold to the Israelites in a time of mourning:
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33-34
Communion is a sacred space. Jesus knew we would struggle with the idea and ability to stop our hands and feet and focus our heart and mind on him. Even sacrificing himself to defeat all sin — to empower us with his Spirit — we forget to stop and recognize these things and continue living like we’re trying to conquer the world ourselves.
So he gives us an action, something tangible to practice and understand. Communion is our key. We see it. We recognize its purpose. We reflect, and we worship, and we give thanks to our Jesus, who loves us and makes us WORTHY.
While taking communion as a body of believers is beautiful, you don’t have to wait for a church service to find that sacred connection with Christ. Reading the words of Jesus in the Gospel (the first four books of the New Testament) and pausing to recognize who you are to him — and in him — can be restorative beyond measure for your soul.
Remember you are WORTHY because of Jesus Christ, and he adores you.
Note: My WORTHY key is from The Giving Keys at thegivingkeys.com.