Relevant For Life-07/24/2013—“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:3 NKJV. Jesus. Rejected and despised by many. He knew we would reject Him, and still do, yet, He allowed us, His creation to beat Him beyond recognition. Let’s read it: “Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men;” Isaiah 52:14 NKJV. Why would God allow this to happen to Him? For you and I. But why would He have to die for us in the first place? Here’s the thing, God—put laws in motion. And God, like so many things in this world we live in, does not need our permission to be real. One of His law—the penalty of sin is death—Romans 6:23—but Jesus paid that penalty for us all. Jesus died so we would not have too. Grace was given to us all as a gift by His death—John 3:16-17. And it is through Jesus and under this gift and the new covenant of grace that we are no longer under the Law—Romans 6:14. We do, however, have to believe in Him—Romans 10:9-10,13--to accept the full pardon of grace that He offers. He offers a full pardon for our mistakes—imagine that. No zapping involved. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:5-7 NKJV. Jesus willingly suffered through all of the forty lashes with leather straps which had little pieces of metal attached to the end and dug into His flesh, ripping pieces of His flesh out each time the leather straps were pulled back for another hit. “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” Hebrews 10:29 NKJV. Remember the first verse? That is why He was barely recognizable. Still, so many reject what Jesus did for us all. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live;” Isaiah 55:2-3 NKJV. Most people deny Jesus even though He actually chose to leave Heaven and feel pain for you and I. I hate pain. The only two commands we now have is to love Him and all others—Matthew 22:37-40, but if we are distracted by policing others, we forget to love. We ignore grace and mercy in those around us—but we expect grace and mercy from God. How ironic is that? Still some of the most monstrous people are those who think they are doing God’s work when really they are just being hateful to others—Proverbs 10:12. With love we can change that bad reputation Christians have. We can give Jesus a good name by simply loving as He asks. We can love every one around us, yes even fellow Christians, as Jesus asks us to do—love. We must remember the point of His suffering and death--Jesus did this for us so that all we have to DO is love. Two commands only—Matthew 22:37-40—love. Stop the rules-stop adding to grace. Try looking for the good in those around you instead of policing them. Try looking at them like Jesus does-with love. Jesus loves even those we find it hard to love. When you are mean to someone remember that Jesus loves them. Try love today. His love will change your whole life, your heart and your eyesight—Isaiah 55:6.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:31:19 +0000
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