He loves me so much, He loves you so much:
* He came from one universe to another to find me
* He came knowingly into our planet’s disease, fear and anger
* He chose to lose all memory of heaven, to come as a baby to save earth, to rescue me
* He came knowing He’d lose rights to use His powers to protect Himself
* He came knowing He’d experience the pain of deceit, abandonment, including mine
* He came knowing He’d experience violent hatred
* He came knowing He’d experience heart-breaking loneliness, some of which I have caused
* He came knowing He’d be rejected by his closest friends
* He came knowing He’d suffer temptation to its end
* He came knowing it would ultimately kill Him
“Immanuel”-God in me, God with me, God next to me, God protecting me, God defending me, God loving me, God enjoying me, God over me, God through me, God for me, God from me, God defining me, God with His arm around me.
John Lynch
You know, at times in the past when I have thought of Jesus' coming and His death on the cross, I have felt guilty. I have felt like I should have been more obedient and more holy because of all He has done for me. But is this the reaction the cross is meant to inspire?
I once read about a painting of Christ on the cross which contained this caption at the bottom: "All this I did for you - What have you done for Me?" Such a thought is truly condemning and guilt-producing, since we could never do anything equal to His work on the cross! We'd be coming up short and feeling awful about it for eternity! I don't think that caption captures Jesus' heart at all!
How about this for a caption: "You are worth it! You are precious to Me! I wasn't about to let sin crush and destroy you. I hated how it enslaved you and made you misunderstand me - not seeing Me as love! I hate how it had trapped you, my dear! It made me angry! I was willing to do anything to free you from sin's grip. I would do anything - even move aside this whole creation - just to get you back, to win you! YOU ARE WORTH IT!"
That's what the Incarnation and Passion of Jesus mean to me! And now that He's shown me His heart about it all, I don't feel guilty anymore - I feel special and loved! And that's true for all of us - we are special and loved to Him, and He says we are worth dying for...we are worth it!
