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Pain with a Purpose
One of the church teachings I carry in my heart from childhood is this: God loves me (and you…and you…) SO much that He would have sacrificed His Son, even if mine was the only soul in need of saving. That is powerful! Though it may be hard to read that it was the Lord’s will to crush “the servant” ( His Son; Jesus), that same powerful message remains. Like the New Testament parables of the lost sheep, and the lost coin, the focus is not on the many, but on the one. And yet, through the saving of the “rebels” or transgressors, He is making the many righteous. Those many, those offspring, are the spiritual children, or all those who believe in and follow Him. That crushing? That was meant to save us, and make us His.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Jeremiah 29:11 (“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, ” plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”) And Isaiah helps to show us that God had that plan for each of us, long before Jesus was born, long before we were ever considered by anyone on Earth. He had a plan only a parent can completely understand. His plan was to harm even himself to make things better for us. Indeed, to make us good.
God never makes a plan that isn’t intended for good. He had this plan in mind from the very beginning. That he would redeem us and reconcile us to Himself, through one ultimate sacrifice.
Thank you Jeri.
We have trivialized “No pain, no gain” to everything from running half a mile to skipping lunch. I personally feel I abstract Jesus pain and trivialize it because I experience it through a book, even though it’s the Bible. Maybe I cannot realize or even imagine what he endured because I really suffer very little for anything.
But it was real, so real that Jesus was crushed physically and spiritually by His own father, left to die, completely abandoned in Heaven and on earth, on the cross. Satan danced and hideously laughed, but only briefly. Thank God that was not the end of it. By His stripes I am healed. He bore my iniquity (my systemic, embedded sin). Because of His pain I have gained everything, and eternal LIFE!
Jeri welcome to CCC. I love Jeremiah too. I was scared last week when the rains kept coming that our house would flood again. I was blessed that the creek didn’t visit us again. However God brought a different type of flood to remind me, to sharpen my faith, and to refocus my prayers. I hate it that sometimes the only way God can get my attention is through pain. I wish I was so focused and tuned into God that I wouldn’t need wake up calls. I am not so I have pain. the pain is like the reflex we have naturally to move away from something hot that would burn us. When it hurts I am moved to action. I praise God with you that He loves us enough to suffer for us. Have a good day.