One time when I was about three years old, I was afraid of being
spanked. My mother had told me to do something, and I was not doing it.
Why? I couldn't do it -- I had not heard what my mother had told me to
do.
My mother and my brother and I were in the very little hall
in the middle of our big farmhouse -- the hall just big enough for a
door on each of three sides, and on the fourth side stairs to go up to
the bedrooms - and I was scared. My mother was saying that I had heard
her. And she was saying again that I'd better go and do what I was told.
I knew she wanted me to go upstairs and get something, but I
didn't know what. Suddenly my brother, maybe a bit over four years old,
said, "I'll do it," and up those stairs he ran so fast that my mother
did not stop him.
I don't remember if I ever did discover what
my mother wanted me to get. But my mother was satisfied when my brother
went up instead of me.
My predicament was traumatic for me as a
child.
But we know that we persons of responsible age have a
similar predicament, though of a somewhat different cause; yet we can
discover it has a parallel solution. Our problem arises when we don't
choose to do what we know and understand God wants us to do as people in
His world. We read at Romans 1:19 and 20: "What may be known about God
is plain to them (to us human beings), because God has made it plain to
them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities -
his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without any excuse."
Yes, our problem is that this is sin, and we are without excuse.
It's not just my problem or just your problem. The Bible tells us,
"There is no one righteous, not even one ..." (Romans 3:10). And "...
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ...'' (Romans 3:23).
Moreover, the Bible says, "... the wages of sin is death ..." (Romans
6:23).
At the same time, no one can shake a fist in God's face
saying, "I did this righteous act or these righteous acts, so God,
you've just got to accept me as righteous." There is no such thing with
God as weighing "good deeds" or offerings on one hand against sin on the
other. With such bargaining attempts, God is not pleased.
So,
does our God condemn us to an eternity of separation from himself and
his people? No, he does not. God put His Son, Jesus, on earth in a human
body to make God's Way clear: Jesus, like my older brother, does not
want a brother or sister to suffer. He takes pity on us: "I'll do it,"
he says in essence. And "Sacrifice and offering you (God) did not
desire, but a body you prepared for me; ... I have come to do your will,
O God" (Hebrews 10:5,7).
Only he, the perfectly pure, sinless Son
can satisfy God the Father in our stead. On the cross He made His
self-sacrificing full atonement for all people of all time. As my family
brother loved me and chose to save me from punishment, so my Brother and
yours, Jesus Christ, loved us and chose to do all that was necessary to
make full satisfaction to God and go up for us (Cf. Hebrews 12:2). Let
us thank him.
Prayer - O Lord, thank you for loving us and
giving Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. May this be our prayer: "Let
us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). Help us
to live more and more in appreciation of the brotherly love of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Isabel
Allison Roland, Manitoba, Canada
