God loves you SO much! His love for you is indescribable. This love brings Him times of joy- but sadly, it equally brings Him times of pain:
Every day, He hears millions say that their lives are of no value and sees them commit suicide. Every day millions of His children look in the mirror and tell themselves that their ugly; that they are worthless.
To give an idea of the pain He goes through, place yourself in this scene:
You are a sculptor. You have labored hours on end investing time into your creations. You have molded and shaped your artwork, meanwhile, falling in love with each and every piece.
Now you stand and look at the finish product. You admire the beauty displayed and you can’t wait to share it with others.
Finally the day arrives, and you are able to open a gallery- displaying each and every one of your beautiful masterpieces. You tenderly place each and every piece in a certain spot where it shines.
Then you open the doors and people pour in and start examining the pieces. You stand there watching their faces in anticipation.
However, instead of looking at the pieces in admiration, they stare in horror. Suddenly they bring out chisels and start carving and cutting away at your master pieces, saying that this nose needs fixed- or this certain part needs changed.
You run to them and try and try to stop them from destroying your work. But there is nothing you can do. They ignore your pleas and push you away.
Your heart falls and tears start to run down your cheeks. All the love you have poured into your artwork has been wasted.
This is how God feels every time you look in the mirror and tell yourself that you’re ugly. Every time someone does something drastic and gets something changed- like a nose job. Even the simple things like putting on makeup to hide certain features. God’s heart falls and He weeps every time we ridicule and stare at ourselves in horror.
Every day God goes through this. But this is only a glimpse of what He goes through.
Every day millions of people make fun of and ridicule everything He is. Every day millions of people reject Him. Every day
millions of people deny His very existence.
Now imagine that its twenty years down the road. You have a daughter or a son. You remember that wonderful moment when they looked up at you and for the first time said daddy or mommy. You have seen and taken joy in their first step.
The delight dances in their eyes as they look at you, waiting for your response.
You remember the joy on their faces every time you entered the room. They would run to you calling out “mommy” or “daddy”. They would then lift their tiny little chubby arms, begging to be picked up. Their joyous laughter echoes in your mind.
Now, they are a teenager. Instead of running to you when you enter the room, they ignore you and act as if you weren’t even there. Every day, despite your warnings, they go off and do something that will hurt them.
When the pain comes you rush to their side to try and comfort them, but they turn their back. A dull ache rips through your heart, as you watch your child sit in pain, rejecting your love.
Tears stream down your face as you overhear your child tell his/her friend, “Ha! That’s not my parent! I don’t even know who they are.”
It’s come to the point that every day after school they go straight to their rooms- locking the door and blaring their music. You call out to them, begging them to come talk to you- but your voice remains unheard. You remain standing there- looking at the door, screaming at the top of your lungs. You drop to your knees, crying out to your child- your little one.
Every day God experiences this. He reaches out and warns his children through His Word. Sadly, they refuse to even open the book- they reject his warnings and end up getting hurt. But when He reaches out to comfort them- they reject Him.
Every day God hears His children deny His very existence. When He calls out, they ignore Him. He begs His children to just spend a few minutes with Him- but they turn away, oblivious to His cries, and walk off to do their own thing.
Then God decided to leave the present and take me back to the past.
God, our King, came down to earth to endure pain each and every day. As He sat and told people that there was hope- many would laugh at Him and turn their backs. He would try to reach their hearts only to be rejected, day in and day out. (Matthew 13:15)
Gods own family members thought Him to be crazy and didn’t believe in Him. (Mark 3:21, John 7:5) Yet He continued to reach out to people and touch them in miraculous ways.
Then came the worst days of God’s life here on earth; one of his closest friends goes and sells Him out:
His friend, Judas, slowly enters the garden with soldiers behind him. Anguish washes over Jesus in that moment. The young man steps up to him and places a single and yet treacherous kiss on His cheek. Then the tears began to flow.
His best friend that He has spent YEARS with has betrayed Him. Sadly, it doesn’t stop here. He watches as many of his closest friends abandoned Him to confront death alone. The fear flashes in their eyes and they run into the darkness.
Later, as God is facing torture, He hears His endearing friend deny ever knowing Him. Not once, not twice, but three times. God looks at His friend through tear filled eyes.
The pain is almost unbearable. All His friends has left Him. However , through all this emotional pain, one person remains on His mind- YOU.
It doesn’t stop there. Some men violently grab Jesus and bring Him before the very people he has healed and touched.
The men ask the crowd if they would like for Jesus to be set free- or a murderer. His heart tears in half when He hears the angry cries. “We want Barabbas!”
Tears stream down His cheeks. These people- only days before- had praised Him! Now they stand here, rejecting Him and wanting to see Him dead.
Still, only one thought remains on His mind- YOU.
The men grab a crown of thorns and push it onto Jesus’ head. He bites back a scream as the thorns tear into His skin. Blood trickles down his face and mixes with His tears. The men laugh and mock Him.
Yet His thoughts remain on You.
The men haul Him off and chain Him down. The cold chains bite into His skin, but He doesn’t fight it. Soldiers grab
weapons and begin to beat Him. A scream escapes from His lips as bones crack under the weight of the rod. More screams escape as skin is torn from His back and chest.
The pain is unbearable, He wants to run from it all- but then You come across His mind.
He lets the men grab Him and force Him to drag a cross. The weight of the Cross bears down on Him and He falls to His knees. Dust flies up and into His cuts. He bites His lip once again, pain-filled tears trickle down His face.
The soldiers yell at Him and kick Him. Somehow He manages to find some strength to continue forward. In the distance He sees the crowds. They look on in anger and hatred. He hears them call Him names, and He sees what is to happen- yet He continues forward, step by step.
The mob pushes past the soldiers and kicks Him. Jesus stumbles and falls once more. The crowd laughs and spits on Him.
Jesus wants to cry out and escape it all; both the physical and emotional pain. Yet, once again, You come to His mind and He presses forward.
Finally, they reach the top of Golgotha. However- Jesus doesn’t get a moment of rest. The soldiers grab Him and lay Him down on the cross. The wood rubs against His back, cutting into His sores. He lets out a loud moan filled with anguish- only to have the response of laughter.
Suddenly, a man roughly grabs His arm and stretches it out. He looks over and sees another soldier hold a nail on His wrist. Then the hammer falls. The cold metal tears into His flesh. Oh the pain- it’s unbearable. Blood flows and screams rip from His chest, yet the soldiers continue on.
Then the men get up and go to the other side. Jesus closes His eyes, knowing what’s coming. Once again throbbing pain pierces through His body. The sounds of His own flesh being torn back rings in His ears.
At this point, He just wants to end everything and leave the pain- but then thoughts of You come back to His mind.
The soldiers start to lift the cross, and Jesus’ body slips. More pain rips through Him, as the splinters tear into his cuts. His body goes into shock and He chokes on His own sobs. His chest is on fire from all the screams and His body aches.
Still, He thinks of you.
Hours later, He starts to sag on the cross- every ounce of strength gone. His muscles are on fire from the tension. He looks around Him and see people laughing and pointing at Him. Soldiers sit there and joke around, gambling for His clothes. They all sit, awaiting his death in horrific delight.
You come once last time to His mind, and a smile manages to come to His lips.
“It is finished.”
Death came and freed Jesus from both the physical and emotional pain. Then three days later, Jesus came back to life and was lifted up into Heaven.
God went through all of this so He could have a personal relationship with you.
Every experience you go through- Jesus can associate with. When you are betrayed by friends, or bullied at school- God can relate. He can even relate to you when a family member lets you down. No matter what you go through- Jesus knows, on a personal level, how you are feeling.
God longs to be your friend. He wants to be there for you when you’re going through the worst of times.
God comes down from His thrown to have one on one time with you. He wants to give you peace, comfort, joy, and hope. Right now He is asking you to take time and talk to Him; to give Him a chance.
Will you reject Him and His request? Or will you run into His open arms and let Him touch you like nothing you could imagine?
). I also REALLY love ‘Hot Koolaid’.
