He Chose the Nails

During the season of Lent our church is reading the Max Lucado book He Chose the Nails, What God Did to Win Your Heart. The sermons, our small group studies and devotions are paralleling what we are reading each week. I have to tell you - it's quite an emotional journey at any time of the year, but especially during Lent as we reflect on Jesus' suffering and sacrifice on the cross as we journey from the Garden to the Cross to Easter - Glory!!!

In Chapter 2 Max referenced the story of The Beauty and the Beast. Can you guess who The Beauty is and who is the Beast? Yes, you guessed it - Jesus is Beauty and we my friends are the Beast(sinners). (I am not talking about Satan as the beast, but the beast of sin) We discussed sin and how we are totally depraved (harsh I know)- we disucssed how in an earthly view some sins just don't seem as big as the heavys (murder, stealing etc) We don't necessarily think about the little things being sin - our response to an individual when are cut off in traffic, talking about that person in the office who is leading and adulterous life - after all he or she is the one sining - right? Have you ever made someone feel bad, so you could feel good? Well, in God's eyes - that is sin, and sin is sin. Murder or gossip - it's sin.

We talked about the consequence of sin being pain and death. If we continue to be caught up in sin and do not confess and repent - we will die a slow death. We are committing eternal suicide. Without Jesus - we are slaves to sin and cannot save ourselves.

Praise God - the Beauty (Jesus) became the Beast (sinful man) and bore the sins of a fallen man on the cross and died to save us from our sin.

I began to think about Jesus bearing our sins from the moment he was arrested in the Garden and ultimately on the cross when he cried out -

"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27: 46)

At that moment Jesus felt the ultimate consequence of sin - total separation from God, eternal death. Jesus at that moment was experiencing hell, so we wouldn't have to - God had turned His back on His son to save us from God turning His back on us. He bore every sin of every man, woman and child.

Jesus began to bear our sin as soon as those shackles we slapped on his wrists and ankles. I am sure they weren't not placed there delicately. That pain, I am sure could not compare to the lashes, the crown of thorns piercing his head, the pain of suffocation from cruxifiction on the cross - just as the pain of our little sins might not be felt as deeply as the pain of a larger sin, but they are sin nonetheless and must be confessed. Thank God Jesus bore the shackles, the lashes, the crown and the cross for us, so we don't have to feel the pain he suffered in our stead.

Thank Jesus today - for what he did for you! Confess your sin - known and unknown. Confess and repent of a sinful lifestyle that you might be caught up in... if you know something in your life is un Godly - confess it and repent of it. I always need to remind myself that Jesus died for my sin and by Grace I am forgiven - but I have to be mindful that it wasn't "cheap Grace" and I cannot confess on Sunday and then go back to the same sin on Monday. Confess and repent so His death was not in vain! He bore all sin! FOR YOU!