The Sacrifice

Happy Resurrection Day! This year feels a bit different. Maybe it’s my first full year in MO or maybe I’m just growing or maybe it just is different. Either way, this year, I’ve spent more time contemplating the sacrifice Jesus made so that I could be saved. 

This past week, instead of continuing our study in Genesis, I switched things up and focused on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Since Genesis introduces Jesus (Gen 3:15) and the blessing He is to all nations of the earth (Gen 12:1-3), it was easy to tie what we’ve been studying to Mark 15. The lesson resonated because it is sometimes unfathomable that God would love us so. 

That He loves me this much given all the mistakes and intentional sin I’ve committed over my lifetime, touches me in ways I never imagined. That He knows me better than I know myself, but still wants a relationship with me blows my mind when I reflect on it. I don’t know about you, but when I think back over my life, I realize that I deserve death and damnation, but Jesus. He took all my sin and failures with Him to the cross and now I have eternal life because of what He has done for me. I hope you have it, too. 

When I think about what He endured so I could have this gift, I get really emotional and am subject to cry. Let’s think about it for a minute. Jesus, who had done nothing wrong, was betrayed, abandoned, arrested for false accusations, taken from court to court, ridiculed, beaten, bruised, whipped and bloodied, spat upon, and nailed to a cross (Mark 14:43-15:46; Luke 22:47-23:56)….all so I could be free and no longer bound to my sin. More than all of that, He, who had been with God forever, allowed Himself to be separated from God…..for me. He knew what He would endure and still, He chose to do so. Then thank the Good Lord, He got up on Resurrection Day (Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12)

I know I still mess up, but it gives me a renewed determination to do God’s will and put Him first. It makes me want to put others ahead of myself. It makes me want to please Him. I owe Him everything and He owes me nothing, but He keeps on blessing me. As we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, let’s remember His sacrifice and move closer to being the living sacrifice we are called to be (Rom 12:1).