I imagine committing a crime and being sentenced to a suffering of some sort.
Maybe a prison cell. For me this would be the worst kind of suffering. You see I am claustrophobic and even the thought of being confined makes me feel like I’m drowning or in a parked car in August with the windows up and the doors locked shut.
Or perhaps for you, maybe it’s being badly beaten every day by an angry person. Or worse, being violated each and every day until you are numb to the very core of your being.
Then imagine one day, out of nowhere, someone you’ve never met steps up and offers to take your place. Freely giving it all up for you, surrendering everything to rescue you.
At first you don’t believe it, why would you, it's impossible.
Who would do this?
Surely he must want something from me or why would he do this?
But his answer is simple. “It’s love.”
And you think, love??? I don’t even know him. And even stranger, you think, does he know me? This is crazy. This can’t be real. And you remember all the times you’ve heard someone say “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is."
Then one day, you wake up and you’re on the outside of your cell and when you turn back to look inside you see someone lying there wearing your coat. The one you’ve always worn before. He lifts His head, looking up at you He smiles and without words His eyes say to you “I love you, so I took your place." Then He tells you, "Now go and live forever free. Just remember Me always. Tell people what I’ve done and that I love them as much as I love you."
Would you do it—tell people?
Would you fall at His feet in gratitude?
Would you forever be grateful knowing that “His law is Love and His gospel is Peace?”
Would you go as far as to say you would worship Him?
Or would you walk away claiming your freedom, forever forgetting the Selfless, Loving, Awesome One who FREELY gave it all up for you?
Jesus is knocking. Answer the door.
He knocked on my door for more than forty years, waiting patiently for me to answer. When I did, He rescued me from my prison cell and gave me life.
Like me, you’re a sinner in need of a Savior. If you haven’t already surrendered to Jesus, do it now.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? Mark 8:35-37
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