The end of the week is here, and it’s not just any Friday, but Good Friday, the day where we as Christians reflect and focus on the perfect sacrifice made for our lives over 2,000 years ago on a cross in Calvary.
In reading the gospel accounts of the events leading up to Jesus’ death, and His death itself over this Holy Week, I’ve seen moments of deep sadness, betrayal, grief, and heartbreak in the pages of Scripture. It is hard to grasp that the One and Only perfect person to walk this earth had to carry the entire weight of the ugliness in our world on His shoulders and then suffer the brutality of crucifixion. For you. For me. For all of us who profess faith in Him.
It’s just too much.
It doesn’t make sense.
How can this be?
And yet in the midst of all the questions and ugliness comes the beautiful assurance from above that this had to happen so that we never have to experience separation from God. Ever. Despite our sins, failures, shortcomings, and messes, we can experience the presence of our God here on earth and also someday in Heaven. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
This is what Good Friday is all about: the radical, huge, and abundant love of God for us. A love so deep, so true, and so big that it required the death of His only Son so that we might have a full and eternal life in Him (John 3:16, John 10:10).
It’s amazing, wild, and passionate love. And it’s a love that only comes from God.
Today, I take pause and thank God that I am loved by Him; that I can experience His grace, peace, and mercy on an everyday basis; even on an hour-by-hour or minute-by-minute basis. I am so far from perfect and in need of the refreshment and life that only He can give.
Tonight, I will be meeting a dear girlfriend for dinner and then going to church with her and my sister to reflect on the cross and revel in His amazing love for us. I can’t think of a better way to share this Holy Day than in worship of God in the beauty of the sanctuary and sharing in fellowship with two of my favorite ladies, being reminded of the good life we have in Him. And all because of what He did on Good Friday.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.”
-Isaiah 53:5, NIV