Weekly Blessings: Week 41: Sacrifice

Image Credit: BYU Religious Studies Center

I know it’s Easter, and everyone expects the discussion to be about how Easter isn’t about the Easter Bunny, or a recap of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but this time I wanted to go a different route. And that direction can be summed up into one word:

This word has been stuck in my head for a while now, and it has been a recurring theme for me as of lately.

Why is this so important?

Well if you think about it, this statement had to be true and vital to Jesus’ walk on this Earth. We all know that Jesus was a miracle from birth, but we also know that Jesus literally was going to have the weight of the world on his shoulders when he died for us.

I was listening to my sister, Miranda, talk about Jesus’ walk, and she said something that I had never thought about before:

In order for Jesus to be able to save us from our sins, he had to take on EVERYTHING; he literally was tempted with EVERYTHING. He had to be in order to save us.

Now just soak that in for a moment…..

Jesus had to experience every sin known to man in order to be able to save us from it. All the sins of our ancestors and descendants, people who walked the Earth before, during, and after Him. Just think about that:

And this isn’t even the whole list! But these are just a few of the many things that one man…ONE MAN…saved us – You and me – from! And he had to deal with all of these things in front of God – His own Father!

What do you think would happen to some of us if our parents knew every thought we had or what we did behind closed doors? Wouldn’t be too pretty, now would it?

Jesus was forced to be transparent with God, because He knew that God was the only one who could help Him. Jesus didn’t want to do it(Matthew 26:36-45); he wanted to live just like any human would. But what did He tell God?

Just look at how much God gave up for us. For those of you that are parents, would you have been strong enough to let one of your children, especially if it was your only child, go and die for the sins of the world?

Look at Jesus’ sacrifice. Could you have done that?

They gave up so much for us, we need to be willing to do the same for them. Jesus died to free us from so many things – why is it so hard for us to walk away from them? Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say leaving those things behind are a walk in the park, but we should be willing to work towards that because if we willingly wallow in those things, Jesus’ death was completely in vain.