The last time I did that, I felt no guilt at all. Now I’m realizing the Holy Spirit is setting me up to think this: I know how my sin affects others, but what about the effect my sin has on Jesus?
God showed his love for me in that while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8) which clearly says that time isn’t the issue: my sins happen after His death, but are still part of what He suffered. If I am facing temptation, I should be thinking of how yielding to selfish desires adds to what He suffered for me. He saved me from sin’s power so I don’t have to do that.
Today’s verse reminds me that His suffering was serious — “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. “(Hebrews 2:9) In serving as my substitute, Christ humbled Himself supremely. Why should I think it is okay to pridefully have my own way and take advantage of His humility?
Not only that, Jesus’ death on the cross was horrific death, not calm and peaceful. He experienced torture and agony. The curse of sin was the guilt and shame for every person who ever lived. He was not guilty of any sin of His own yet willingly suffered a weight that I cannot begin to imagine. Why should I take sin lightly or take His forgiveness for granted? With people I hurt, I can see their pain, but I cannot see the pain Jesus felt — and that is a hopelessly awful excuse to ignore it.
As today’s devotional says, God sent His Son who willingly came to die to redeem mankind, including me. This is amazing. He did it so I could become His adopted child (Galatians 4:4–5). Would I stomp on the loving grace of my physical father? No way. How then can I ignore the cost paid that made me a child of God?
MacArthur writes: “Only by tasting death as a man could He free mankind from death. Historically, kings have had someone taste their food and drink before they consumed it. Christ drained to the dregs the cup of poison rightfully meant for us before it could ever touch our lips. He substituted His death for ours, releasing us from the deadness of sin and bringing us into life with God.”
He was moved by love and grace to suffer for me. I did nothing to deserve salvation and much to deserve death. The people I hurt may or may not have done anything that prompts my sin, but I’m to be like Jesus and love them as He loves me:
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Jesus died for all, then rose from the dead and is crowned with glory and honor and exalted to the right hand of the Father, where He will reign forever and ever. He is my great substitute, whom I can thank and praise throughout all eternity. Each time I sin, I am mocking the one who bore that sin and the guilt of it. Shame on me.
PRAY: Jesus, I can see that being righteous can be motivated by a selfish desire to be popular rather than wanting to glorify You and be like You. You did the will of God because You love us, but also because You love the Father and obeyed Him. I need to be more aware of why I do things, and who it really hurts when I do not obey You. It is important to love people, but that love is supposed to be the way that I show my love for You, not just to get on the good side of them. Forgive me.
PONDER: Among other horrors, Isaiah 52:13–53:12 says that Jesus “was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” and that He was “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” He bore my griefs and carried my sorrows. While I esteem him smitten by God, He was pierced for my transgressions; crushed for my iniquities. My sin was laid on Him as He made intercession for me. While I cannot be my own Savior, I can love Him and show it by loving others — far better than I do.
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