"I did it just for you."
>2005-12-27 - 5:49 p.m.
I'm supposed to be studying now.. Seeing that I have 3 SEA tutorial outlines, 1 International History essay, 20 GP newspaper articles, a 7-day Economics e-learning programme (with just 4 days to go), two math tutorials to complete, and 1 full literature essay to write. But I just found this precious picture on deviantart awhile ago. And it happens that I'm reading Max Lucado's He Chose the Nails. A great book which has this exact cross on the cover of the book.
Isn't this cross such a perfect representation of what Jesus did on the Cross? He didn't have to endure the soldier's spit, nor did He have to take the nails. As God He had the power to prevent His cruxifiction from happening. After all, if He was the one who parted the Red Sea, sent fire from heaven to consume an offering on the altar, sent the plague into Egypt, what is stopping a nail to Him? To quote, Jesus could have "boomaranged" the soldier's spit back at into the soldier's face. But He didn't. Why? Because He chose to do it. If the soldier didn't hammer the nail into His hand, He would have done it Himself. Because He knew he was paying the price for us once and for all. He wanted to spend forever with us so much that He became one of us. Have you actually truly considered the implications of that action? In doing that, Jesus was bounded as God. He needed food, water, sleep, money and clothes. For what? He could have just died for our sins by living for a short while too, say two weeks. But He chose to be on this earth for a lifetime. To gain our trust. To let us know that He knows exactly what we mean when we say we are thirtsy. When we say we are grieving. When we feel rejected. God becoming man is like a human becoming a dog.
The Cross isn't just about the lovey-dovey side of God. It's also about His passionate love for us that stops at nothing. Though so much pain was involved, and not just physical pain mind you, but also emotional pain that we will never be able to comprehend, God chose it all. And He did it just for you.
He splashed orange in the sunrise
and cast the sky in blue.
And if you love to see geese as they gather,
chances are you'll see that oo.
Did he have to make the squirrel's tail furry?
Was he obliged to make the birds sing?
And the funny way that chickens scurry
or the majesty of thunder when it rings?
Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste?
Could it be
he loves to see
that look upon your face?
Poem taken from He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado.