When I was younger, I used to wonder… “Why was Jesus dying on a cross such a big deal?”

I mean, if he were the son of God, he’d be like… an angel… right?

And, if he were an angel, it’s not like he would have felt any pain-

And, if this “Jesus” was so important… “Why did we only go to church on Christmas and Easter to praise His name?”

Yet, in that confusion, one day Jesus showed me, what no. one. else. could ever make me see.

That He gave up his rights as a king, becoming sin just for me – flesh, blood, body and bone – and He even did it voluntarily.

He felt joy and sadness, and wept when His friend Lazarus died, He felt the deepest betrayal when Peter denied Him 3 times, And when Pontious Pilate tried to spare His life, He felt the abandonment of His people when they screamed: “Away with this Jesus!””CRUCIFY, CRUCIFY!!!! ”

He felt every punch, every slap, every tear from that whip!

When they ripped out His hair, He felt the hate in their grip.

He felt the weight of that cross bearing down on his back – Every one of my sins was carved in that cross bearing down on his back.

He would cringe as He carried it, and would fall to the ground, And when He struggled to his feet, they would knock Him back down.

They mocked Him and cursed Him all the way up that hill, Then He felt the force of their hammers as they drove in those nails – His bones breaking, His heart breaking…those scars remain with Him still.

And this is a love which I can’t understand – A sacrifice for me? …I hated the name of the one, Who came here to save me, from all I will ever do, and all I have ever done.

For even while I was His enemy, blaspheming His name, He bore the wrath of His Father so that I could be saved.

Now I have no more doubt!! At last, I believe, that Jesus is the truth and the life- The only way of salvation, the only way to the father –

But now, I wonder… “Would any of us have loved the world so much to have bothered?”

Is Jesus suffering torture and dying on that cross, a love that you can relate to? Reason with me for a moment, Let me put it this way to you…

If I slapped you in your face and pushed you to the ground, then kicked you while you down, would you refuse to make a sound?

And when a crowd gathered ’round and beat you, and spit on you, would you cry up to heaven, “ Father! Forgive them! They know not what they do!”

I’ll be honest.

I don’t think I could.

Would you?

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”~ Romans 5:6-11

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