Redemption

The other night the Lord whispered to my heart about His redemption and forgiveness. Jesus became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus....God....Perfection....became sin so that we....broken...sinful...imperfect....could come to possess His righteousness as our own. (2 Cor. 5:21) So that if we accept Jesus' sacrifice in our place, God will look at us and see the righteousness of Jesus Christ rather than our depraved and utterly wicked hearts. Hallelujah! What a Savior! I certainly do not deserve that whatsoever. I don't know why He would ever love us that much....but I think one of the best ways that I can show my gratitude for this salvation is by walking in the freedom and forgiveness He has given me. How it must break His heart when I wallow in guilt and shame over something that Jesus says I have been forgiven for. Jesus' sacrifice sets me free from that in true repentance. Thank You Jesus....

As I was telling Jason about this, a real life scenario came to mind as an example. Say that Jason was sick with some rare disease...I knew there was a cure. But it was very costly. So costly that I had to give my son, Nathanael, away....in order to get it. But my love for Jason is so strong that I chose to do that. I bought Jason's cure, his salvation, at the cost of our son. Then, I went to Jason with his beautiful and glorious gift. He accepted it with heartfelt gratitude but then chose to only use part of it. Ohh how that would break my heart. I know this isn't a direct parallel to what Christ has done for us, but it does put some perspective on it. I long to live in the freedom that Christ has given me, if for no other reason than to show Him how deeply grateful I am for what He has done for me....paid the penalty for my sin so that I might spend eternity with Him after this life and have life more abundant while I walk this earth. I want to live as though I have been forgiven....to take Him at His word! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Also....one more thing...a word about the Lord's supper (aka Communion). Last Sunday was the first time in my life I can ever remember feeling joy during the Lord's Supper. It is truly a solemn occasion of remembering and commemorating Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross for us. The Bible takes very seriously the issue of preparing your heart before you partake to make sure there is no unconfessed sin. That has always been the majority of my focus, I think. Trying to ensure that my heart was right before the Lord, and also trying to seriously reflect on His sacrifice....but last Sunday....last Sunday Jesus came alive to me in a new way. I was actually playing the piano during the passing of the plates (the bread and wine) and I wanted to shout, "HALLELUJAH!!" out of joy and excitement over the fact that Jesus died for ME to save me. And I realized....that's how it should be! Definitely not at the expense of the serious and deeply reverent attitude that we should have....but oh what a gift He has given us!! May we always have hearts full of joy when we think on Jesus and His precious gift of life.