Good Friday . . .

Today is the day that our Savior took away our sins.
A friend posted on Facebook that he recently watched The Passion of the Christ again, a movie that I would actually like to watch again myself.
But it reminds me of something that breaks my heart and lifts my soul with joy all at once.
HE died for ME.
ME - who is completely unworthy of salvation.
ME - who spent much of my early adulthood denying His existance
ME - who is a sinner through and through

A few years ago I went with my church's youth group to church camp. At the end of camp we had a walk through, where I'd lead the kids through a maze of dark rooms. In each of the rooms, there are sounds, smells, flooring, even tactile items to make it seem that you are there listening and experiencing the last few days of Christ's life on Earth. You experience the last supper, the arrest, and the trial. But the one thing that got every child in that entire camp, the one thing that affected ME more than anything, was the death. In a dark room you only hear three things. First, the crack of a whip, over and over. Then, the sound of nails being driven into a piece of wood. Finally a man cries out in Aramaic: "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"


Even now this simple scene gives me chills.


Jesus knew what he was on Earth for. It wasn't as though he WANTED this to happen to him - on the contrary, he asked God many times to save him from this deed. But he knew that God's will must be fulfilled, and HE was God's will.


So he took it. Every lash of the whip. Every drop of saliva that the soldiers spit on him. Every drop of sour wine they shoved into his face to drink. Every pound of the hammer. And every. single. nail.


He didn't see our faults. He didn't see our sin. All He saw was God's will and His love for us. For ALL of us. He wanted us to have salvation, weather we wanted it or not. His undying love and grace and mercy saved us all  from an eternity without Him.


We are filthy. All He sees is clean. We are ugly. All He sees is beauty. We are unworthy. All He sees is worth.


There is a song that I am reminded of right now by Nichole Nordeman called "Anyway". There is a line that goes:


"You called me beautiful when you saw my shame, and you placed me on the wall anyway . . ."


God sees our beauty and our worth. He knows our needs and fulfills them.
Almost 1000 years ago He fulfilled our need for salvation by sacrificing His own.
God Bless you all.