He took up my cause. It didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone stand up for me and eventually stand in for me to accept my punishment for the crimes I had committed. Who would do that and why in the world would they? It doesn’t make any sense. I’m guilty of my own sins and I should be the one who pays, not Him.
“At the cross At the Cross I surrender my life…I owe all to you, I owe all to you.”
The melody wafts in my head as my soul rises up to connect to the one who stood in my place and bore my sufferings. How could I not surrender my all, my life, my heart to Him?
He seized the moment and said I – you – we – were worth it and He stood between us and the punishment and pain and he bore it all. If we stop, if only for a few moments, and meditate on the sacrifice and the life that was poured out for us, we can break and weep, mourn and worship in awe. If we stop, we can feel the weight of our own sin and for a second imagine the weight of alls sin. How could He do it? Why would He do it? Then repentance, forgiveness and freedom burst through and we glimpse at the life we’ve been given if only by his grace. And as we get to walk through each day we get to chose what we will do with this one life we’ve been given and the price that was paid for it. The burdens we carry and the price that we pay can never compare, but it is the least we can do in honor, in worship, in praise and in adoration for him. Loving Jesus and serving Him is easy when we stop and consider the cross and the price that was paid by the one who gave it all for us.
“At the cross At the Cross I surrender my life…I owe all to you, I owe all to you.”
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
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.
Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.Isaiah 53 MSG
