God Loves Us

Rather than a song of the day, I'm going to leave you with a quote for Easter.


‎"Does God really love us? I say look to the crucified Jesus... By every thorn that punctured His brow... every bruise which heavy fists made upon His head. God said, "I love you!" By all the spit that landed on his face. By every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground. By every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross. By every beat of His loving heart. God said, I love you."


When I think of the enormity of what happened so many hundreds of years ago to Jesus I am overcome with emotion.  To try to imagine the suffering that he endured and the brutality and cruelty shown towards him by human beings is so difficult.  This man, so clearly something more than a mere mortal, came to us to educate us and show us that there is something more all the while knowing what his fate would be.  Trying to think about the last days of Jesus' life and the people around him who he let into his circle, to be betrayed by one of them, to know that His death would forgive the sins of millions of people after Him is unfathomable.


I would like to think that I am a generous and compassionate person.  But am I that generous and compassionate?  Would I give my life for someone else's if ever put in that situation?  


Jesus, the sacrificial lamb.  This is something that I wish I could say I think of on a daily basis and that I remember to be grateful daily, but it is not.  I thank God for what He has given me and I am aware that He has blessed me, but do I think of what was sacrificed for me to have the life that I have?  Not every day.  The lenten season as an opportunity to remember.  But what about in July, when there are really no thoughts of Easter and no thoughts of Christmas to trigger your thoughts back to the sacrifice made?  


I urge you, as I urge myself, to remember.  Remember every day what the significance of Jesus was.  He was God in human flesh.  He felt everything that you have ever felt.  He felt the sadness, fear, hunger, uncertainty, joy, excitement, love that you have felt.  He knows everything about you and I.  Every detail, every cell in our body, He knows.  He knows what is going to happen to us tomorrow, the next day, and the day after.  Yet, He is the same as he was yesterday, today, and will be tomorrow.  


In a world that is so chaotic, can be so cruel and mean, He is there.  He is the one constant, the one source of true love.  We just have to remember to look for Him, but He is there.


Take this Easter to remember and reflect.  I know that is what I will be doing - today, tomorrow, and (my goal) every day after.