Good
Morning All,
Romans 5:8; “but God shows his love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The man’s name was Tom Johnson. He was a young man of 30. His eyes showed a hardness that a life of bad
choices could give. It was serious this
time. He had tried to rob a 7-11. He kept blaming the clerk. “All he had to do was give me the money;
nobody likes a hero.” The young clerk
had pushed the alarm button and Tom, startled, shot him. The young man had died on the operating
table; he left a wife and two small children.
Tom had turned to run and right then two
police cruisers pulled up and blocked his escape. He tried to run but he didn’t get far. He was taken downtown and placed in a
cell. He knew the routine; he had done
it since he was 15. Most people who knew
Tom knew he was only trouble. He already
had a history of being in the jail. He
had other convictions and all this added up to a long stretch ahead of
him. He would talk to his “lawyer”
tomorrow. Some poor, schmuck public
defender whose law degree still had wet ink on it would be his attorney. It didn’t matter to Tom. The whole thing was rigged against him. It wasn’t his fault; it never was.
As he walked into the courtroom, he saw the
judge and kind of recognized him. “Must
have had him before”, thought Tom. His
“lawyer” moaned under his breath, “Oh, no”.
Tom looked at him. “That is Judge
Johansen”, said the lawyer. He looked at
Tom and said, “You’re screwed; he’ll throw the book at you…then the gavel, the
table and the court reporter!” Tom was
worried. He should have been. The trial was short. The verdict was swift. He was found guilty of murder, murder while
committing a felony, attempted robbery, resisting arrest and jaywalking.
The judge looked at him and sentenced him
to death and never batted an eye. Tom
hung his head and as the bailiff went to take him out of the courtroom; the
judge stopped them. Everyone turned to
look at the judge. He had removed his
robe and was coming down from the bench.
He came up to the young man and the bailiff. He told the bailiff to release the young
man. The judge then told the bailiff,
“take me instead and let him go.” No one
said a word. The judge looked at the
young man and told him, “you are free, I’ll pay the debt, I’ll take the
punishment.” With that the judge was
escorted to the cell and was executed 2 months later.
That is a story you will never hear on the
news. CNN will never have that for the
lead story. Yet that is exactly what
Jesus did for us. We are far worse than
Tom. Our sins rise before God with a
stench that cannot be described. Yet God
stepped down from his holy bench and through Jesus took our punishment and set
us free. Notice Tom didn’t say thank you
or even promise to change. He did
absolutely nothing to earn this act of mercy.
Neither have we; yet God forgives us anyway because He loves us. This is a love that we cannot even
fathom. Someone dying for me and not
demanding anything out of me first is beyond our understanding.
We don’t know about Tom and how his story
ends but what about you? God promises us
salvation and gives us freedom. Do you
believe this? Has this changed your
life? God reaches down and grabs you up
into a huge hug. You can fight or you
can, by faith, hug back. Go ahead and
hug back. Your Father has embraced you
with all of his love; embrace it back and savor its goodness and blessing.
Dear
Father, you sent Jesus to die for us even when we were completely unworthy and
undeserving. Give me the power to hug
you back and to be your child; safe in your arms today and always. In the precious name of Jesus, our risen
Savior, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.