ok, here is a question that God keeps bringing up and then provided a visual for- last wednesday at youth group... they showed a video clip from the Passion of the Christ....(i cant remember what song it was to), but it was a look at Jesus in the garden, and then arrested, and whipped and then put on the cross. TOUGH stuff. (that movie never gets easier to watch.) but what God has been revealing to me is this...(im going to walk you through my thought process the best i can...;) ) the Bible says that the "wages of sin is death"... so the first time we sinned, that should have been it for us. but it wasnt. but God is just - He cant change that, it is a foundation of His very being...so somebody had to die in order for justice to be fulfilled...and since we havent hung on a cross, Jesus' death must have taken care of it for us. (not what i am trying to get to - but take a second and just thank Him that you didnt have to go through what He did!!!) some might say that seems a bit extreme - death on a cross? well here's the thing...we were warned. right? He said - "follow my commandments" why? because "the wages of sin is death". and yet... we choose to sin. once? twice? or over and over... why dont we think about that phrase "the wages of sin is death"? is it because it doesnt apply to us anymore? (at least not immediately...) but what God is telling me is not to minimize what that means...because minimizing the price of sin minimizes what Jesus did for us. and here's another thought.... every time we sin, every time we are about to do something we KNOW is not what God wants - what if we stopped to think..."is this worth dying for?" this movie, this moment of anger, this gossip...is it worth dying for? intense, huh? thats what i thought when i first thought it. and when i watched that video, it hit me on a whole new level of intensity. is this moment of pleasure, this fleeting moment of what I want WORTH the price? and if we decide that it is...heres the next question -
is it still worth it if you knew that not you, but JESUS, would be paying that price for you?
my intent is not to condemn...not at all. thats not my job and God knows i am in no place to look down on anyone - i have sinned and still sin, but i am learning to discipline myself. to put God first in EVERY situation... why? because i have yet to come up with a single thing where the answer is yes when the question is "is this worth Jesus dying for?" i know we hear this so much - but dont just glance over it...He loved/loves us SO much that He paid that price. even though we choose ourselves over Him so many times... so i guess what God is wanting to instill in me, in us - is that He saw our hearts, saw that we would mess up - and He offered us a second chance. (well, He has offered 3rd, 4th, and 5th chances...) but the point is He didnt just wash His hands of us. and we need to realize how huge that is. we need to stop minimizing what we are doing when we sin. the price of our disobedience is death...but due to no credit to ourselves - that price was paid. so lets grab a hold of that freedom and STOP looking back. lets just be glad we are free and find out what was so important that He died so He could show it to us...
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