It’s Friday…It Wasn’t A Hard Decision

It’s Good Friday, the day the ultimate sacrifice was made for the sin of mankind. Jesus Christ was crucified for you and me. And it was The Lord’s will to crush the Messiah. Not only was it His will, but the real sense of the Hebrew expression is, God took pleasure in Messiah’s suffering. We have a hard time with that concept because we don’t think that God has any pleasure in human pain, especially the pain of His own Son. While God didn’t enjoy Jesus’ suffering – or ours either,  for that matter – He was pleased to ordain it. The benefits exceeded the cost. This was well worth it to Him. It Wasn’t A Hard Decision.

“It was The LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.”  (Isaiah 53:10)

We see that attitude reflected in Jesus too. He endured the cross “for the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). We know He didn’t enjoy it; a dreadful night in the garden of Gethsemane made that clear, as did His cries of anguish as He died. But He willingly made the sacrifice because of the joy it would bring. He would have intimate fellowship with all who come to Him in faith. That was well worth the brutality of the torture He endured.

That thought is a dramatic picture of the heart of God. He experiences tremendous joy over those who love Him. The painful cost of redemption was not done grudgingly, a reluctant last-ditch effort to salvage what He could of His broken creation. It was planned from before the foundation of the world – with pleasure. His love for His people is great enough to drive Him to extraordinary lengths that will cause angels and humans to marvel forever and ever.

Do we see ourselves as objects of God’s zealous, relentless love? Do we realize that His love for us prompted Him to pay an extraordinary cost to bring us into His fellowship, and that He did it gladly? Most of His followers know that intellectually, but don’t believe it deep in their heart. They see God as a reluctant, obligated lover. But that’s not how He portrays Himself. He delighted to sacrifice for our love. Let’s make it even more worthwhile by loving Him deeply in return.

Have a life-giving weekend. Make it better by worshiping The LORD with those who are deeply aware of the personal sacrifice they have received from the hand and heart of God, and never take it for granted because they know, without Him, they have no hope.

All For Jesus – Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.

“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15b-16)