I woke up in a sweat, heart pounding, an awful feeling hung
in the dark room.
I had just woken up from a dream where I had murdered a good
friend of mine and buried his body in the sand at the beach. There had been no
motive and I had never, in real life, ever had a single problem or issue with
this friend, so I had no idea where this dream even came from.
After he had been thrown into the sandy pit and covered in
sand, I realised his name was written on his shoes and so went back and dug up
his feet, pulling off his shoes and taking them with me to dispose of somewhere
else. Terrible I know. No wonder I woke up with a terrible feeling. I lay in
bed, looking around the familiar sights in the darkness of my bedroom and
called on the name of Jesus as I had been taught to do from the time I was a
child. Focusing my thoughts on The One who holds my life and thoughts in his
hands, I asked for peace to still my pounding heart and to fill the room.
Although it took time and faith, He came, but I never forgot my dream.
I can still picture each scene of my dream in my mind. An
innocent man was murdered by my hands. Surely I would be incapable of doing
such a thing, but this week I’ve been reminded of the man who was killed brutally
even though he was completely innocent. The man was not only innocent even though
he faced every earthly struggle and temptation, but he lived a life of
perfection, hardly deserving to be brutally hung on a cross to die.
The fact is I was born into a world of free choice. I could
chose to live life any way I wanted. God created it that way so that if we
chose to love him, it would be genuine, our own choice.
I met Jesus when I was a small child. I have no memory of
not knowing him. Like a friend you have grown up with, someone who has been a
part of every memory, happy and sad, he knows everything. There have certainly
been things that I’ve held back from him, not wanting to listen to his
instruction. I made my own decisions, stubborn to do what I wanted, but they
didn’t turn out well. When I turned around and sought comfort in his arms, he
opened them wide and didn’t say “I told you so.” He carried me and spoke gently,
singing over me his delight and love, despite my bad choices and sin in
disobeying.
In his great love for his children, God sent his son to
earth to live among us, to experience a fleshy life of joy and sadness,
blessing and hardship. In the greatest act of love Jesus let himself be sacrificed
and take the world’s sins upon him.
Think about the sins of the world, the constant war, the
shootings, the murders, the lies, the greed, the conflict. Now, imagine having
the weight of all of that sin on YOUR shoulders, knowing that God says the
penalty of sin is death. (Rom 6:23)
It was my sin that hung him on that cross. He was willing to
hang for me.
He was willing to hang for me.
I try to imagine my heart if I was standing at the foot of
that cross, staring up at Jesus hanging there. My heart would just explode with
pain watching the agony of him trying to breathe as his arms were stretched up
high above his head, blood dripping from the lashings that ripped his flesh wide
open, making puddles on the ground beneath him, his life slowly draining out of
his body before my very eyes. The crown of thorns digging deep into the flesh
of his head creating trickles of blood that flow past the eyes that had
captured the hearts of thousands.
Insults were hurled at him as he hung there. As much as I’d
like to think I would not have been one of them, I have.
But death could not overcome him.
After he took our sins to the grave, forever removed from us, he rose from his grave. Did
you hear that? Death could not overcome him! That means he can never be
destroyed! He has ultimate power. Not only does he have power over death but he
has given us eternal life with him because of his great love for us, his children.
His death brought us life.
It also means despite sickness and the hardship of this life, we have hope in
him. We have hope that no matter what we face or do, we can never be removed from his sacrificial love for us.
No longer does death have a hold on us; we are forever set free by the death of an
innocent man.
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