Some people go to school and work very, very hard to achieve the right to put certain letters behind their name. To be able to put designations such as MD or PhD or MBA or MDiv behind one’s name indicates something of the effort and work that has been put into meeting an accredited standard. It’s also a pretty good indicator of what roles an individual should be capable of filling. This morning as I continue to read in Colossians, I realize afresh that, although I’ve never graduated from a degreed program, I do have my own designation . . . there’s a set of letters I can put behind my name . . . may I introduce to you Peter J. Corak, HBaR.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him . . .   (Colossians 1:21-22 ESV)

Holy, Blameless, above Reproach . . . HBaR

Thing is about this designation is that there wasn’t anything I could do to earn it. Of myself, I wasn’t able even to enter the program . . . didn’t want to, in fact. I was a stranger to the subject matter . . . and what I thought I knew about it, I resisted . . . sometimes mocked it . . . more than once derided it. I would have far rather pursued the ways of this world than have registered (even if I could have) for an HBaR designation.

But while I didn’t want it . . . couldn’t afford to enter the program . . . and had no hope of achieving the designation based on my own capability . . . I had a Benefactor who had determined, before the world began, that those letters would go behind my name.

He paid the full tuition price . . . through the blood of His cross. He wrote the entrance exam for me . . . acing it . . . perfect score . . . spotless, without any defect. He recruited me . . . don’t know why . . . but gently, persistently, He drew my heart towards the program . . . opened my eyes to the prize. And then, although I am so far from being finished all the course work, He conferred upon me the designation HBaR . . . with the promise that what He declared to be true “positionally” He would one day make to be true “practically” . . . Holy . . . Blameless . . . above Reproach.

Amazing designation . . . not because of who I am, but because of what He’s done . . . not because of what I’ve done, but because of who He is.

Amazing grace . . . how sweet the sound . . . that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found . . . was blind, but now I see.

Talk about your transformation . . . about going from one end of the spectrum to the other . . . about ending up in a spot that is so, so different from where you started. Isn’t that the glory of the gospel?

Oh, what a Savior . . . to Him be all glory . . . and honor and praise!