Fridge Rights

[Part 4, Chapter 24] 

It was inscribed: “There is always a light on in our fridge for you.”

Julie and I lived 30 minutes further southwest out of Sydney from Rolly and Leanne, our good friends in town. Every trip from the outer suburbs to the big smoke was a chance for a catch up. A visit to the little room or the opening of their fridge door were two actions I initiated soon after arriving.

So frequent were our visits that Leanne made me a little 3D model fridge. It came with a magnet on the back, so I could place it on my fridge and be reminded of the place I held in their heart, shown by the access I was given to their fridge.

They had gifted me ‘fridge rights’, a powerful tribute indeed!

What they had given me, was access.

Favour brings access.

That means you have access.

You can access everything of the Father’s heart because of Jesus. There is no favour he is holding back from you, no secret he is not sharing with you, no part of his heart he is not embracing you with.

Just because Christmas carols aren’t my favourite doesn’t mean they don’t have anything good to offer. Check out these words from “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”:

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel.

In four different ways, over four lines, Charles Wesley stresses the same point: you have access.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see: when we see Jesus, even as a baby, even on a cross, hidden in vulnerability and suffering, we are seeing God. He is giving access.

Hail the incarnate Deity: from the Latin ‘in’ meaning into, and ‘caro’ plus ‘carn’, the word incarnate means becoming flesh. God has become flesh in the person of Jesus. He is giving access.

Pleased as man with man to dwell: God isn’t repulsed by what he sees in humanity. He isn’t keeping his distance like an offended lover. Rather, he is pleased to come here and dwell among us in the person of Jesus. He is giving access.

Jesus, our Emmanuel: Emmanuel simply means ‘God with us’. Jesus is God-for-us precisely because he is God-with-us. He is giving us access.

You have fridge rights. You can barge right in, hungry and needy.

The company is amazing, and you will be well fed.