Good Friday

Isaiah 53: "But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed."
Today is Good Friday.  The day that Jesus was crucified! When I think about it I have mixed emotions, emotions of both joy and sadness.  Joy because God loved me so much that He was willing to send His son Jesus to this world to be a living example for me as well as a living sacrifice.  Isaiah says "He bore my sins..."   In other words, I was on that cross with Him 2,000 years ago. 

That is the sad part to this equation.  When they raised Him to the heavens, they raised me with him.  All of my sins and failure were there.  That He had to die is bad enough but that He had to die because of me, well that's a lot to think about and a lot to take in.  So what is my response to that?  It is to give Him all I have in total gratitude for all that He did for me.  I should have died on that Cross...wait a minute, I did, I died to myself.

Pastor Rick