Food for ThoughtIT SHOULD HAVE BEEN US
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12: 2  King James Version

What horror and what agony and pain our precious Saviour endured for us! It should have been us who hung on the cross that the Saviour of the world hung on. He paid the sin debt that we owed. It was a debt that we could never have paid. It took the spotless Lamb of God to satisfy the requirements of a Holy God.

Jesus had never sinned but because His heart was filled with unconditional love and compassion for us, He allowed them to beat Him, torture Him, spit on Him, ridicule Him and mock Him. He did all of that for us when it should have been us who hung on that cross. What a precious Saviour; what a friend, this Jesus of Calvary!

Just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him so we should also endure the criticism, sarcasm, ridicule and scorn for the joy set before us. One day, if we have made a heart commitment to Jesus, we will see Him face to face and we will spend all eternity with Him. What joy floods my heart when I think about being with my precious Saviour for all eternity!

The next time someone says hateful words to you or does something cruel to you, remember that one day you will see Jesus face to face and spend all eternity with Him. Remember, one day it will be worth all the pain, loneliness, heartaches and burdens you bear, because if you are serving Him with all of your heart, He will say to you “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25: 21).

Joanne Lowe
July 14, 2008

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.