The weight of your substitute

grace and peace to you my friends,

"And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me." "John 12:44-45 ESV

"Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" John 14:9

Have you ever wondered what God would be like? What would he do or say if He were here? Well we can know for sure what it would be like to have Him among us because the Bible teaches that Jesus is the the exact image and representation of God in human form. Jesus repeatedly told us that He only came to do what the Father wanted him to do and only spoke those things that the Father gave Him to say. We know the Father because we have seen and heard the Son. This also means that every thing Jesus spoke was the very Words of God. This idea that Jesus and the Father are one I'm sure is very familiar to you. As we head to Easter though it led me to a very weighty thought for us. Jesus Christ, the very Word of God in human form is equal to and also GOD, right. Jesus willingly gave Himself up for us, paying the horrible price of death for the punishment that we deserved, right. These statements I'm sure you all agree with but when you think about this coming Easter and what it means for you, has it really stuck home, that the Creator God of the Universe willingly traded places with you out of love? Taking on an undeserved tortuously painful death that should have been yours to endure forever. We're talking about The God, the Creator of life, the Holy only wise God, King of the Universe, the One Who is was and is to come. Need I go on? Do you get my point? We go through the Easter act every year just doing the motions but will we give real effort this year to the true weight of what we're claiming to celebrate? Friends, loved ones, will you let the immensity of Christ's sacrifice stir up new affections in your hearts this year?

Don't let your heart stay detached from the weight of Christs actions and His ultimate sacrifice for you as you move towards your Easter celebrations this weekend. Whether you participate in an organized Easter celebration or not is really irrelevant. As one who claims to follow Christ, how will you let what He has done motivate or change the way you spend this Easter?

For the Joy of Your Faith,
Teagan