That We Might Have Life

This is such an incredible week. I keep thinking about what it must have been like to have walked with the Lord during His time here on earth. I wonder what it must have been like to BE Him, knowing what was coming. Although He was fully God, He was God incarnate, and therefore fully human. He did not escape the pain of what He went through, and not only had to go through it, but had the absolute anticipation of its coming.

I think about how He prayed to the Father in the garden, "let this cup pass from me..." I can only imagine it was out of the knowledge of the suffering to come, and yet He finished the prayer, "not My will but Yours be done." He was saying, "I don't want to suffer, but I will for Your glory, for their salvation, to accomplish what needs to be done." For my salvation, He was willing to suffer beyond anything I can comprehend. I wonder if I would have the strength or purposefulness to suffer for another. I guess it is sort of loosely similar to the labor in childbirth. In my case I had many things to alleviate the suffering that came through that process both times in my life, but even if I had not, I would have been willing to suffer it to give life to my children.

Likewise Jesus suffered, but to a much greater degree so that we might have life. The bible says so we might have "life abundant," or "life to the full." Not only that but He suffered so that we might have life eternal, with Him and in the presence of the Father, not only after our death, but as we live our lives as well.

I know how much I love my children, so much that I was willing to suffer through a little labor, and I am humbled at the fact that it does not begin to compare to the love the Father and the Son have for me. It is almost impossible to comprehend.

More than a decade ago the Lord gave me five poems for Easter devotionals, one for each day from Wednesday leading up to Easter Sunday, and starting tomorrow I will come back and share them. I would love if you would come and read them, I know they were a gift to me and I would love to share it with you.

Tonight I want to share with you a video I found on YouTube. Someone put together portions of the movie The Passion of the Christ with one of my favorite worship songs. I thought it would make a nice transition from the post about Palm Sunday and the devotional poems I'll start sharing tomorrow.

As I watched the video I remembered how in the scene of Christ's crucifixion, the hands that nail Jesus to the cross are those of the film's producer/director Mel Gibson. When I watch that scene in the movie, I was struck by the sound of the hammer hitting the nail. I think it was profound that Mel Gibson would choose to play that role, because the fact of the matter is, any one of us could do so, because it was our sin that truly hung him on the cross. It amazes me that He suffered all He did so willingly and knowingly for me and for you.

I hope the video blesses you.



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