Just For Her

The Story

The middle-aged businessman joined his wife at the medical center. They needed some pre-travel shots. She had an assignment in South America. He wanted to accompany her.
"I'll let you go first," he told his wife, magnanimous in his chivalry. What he hoped was that no one would notice that his heart seemed to be rising above his Adam's apple. As he watched the nurse prepare a needle for him, his pulse soared. His mouth grew dry. His palms sprouted tiny streams of moisture.

"Sir, would you care to sit down?" The all-seeing nurse was gentle as she poured him a cup of water.

"I'm fine," he croaked. His focus was on the encroaching needle.

But the nurse knew better. "Here." She offered him a cherry-flavored lollipop--a treat stashed away to comfort preschoolers. The eyes of that fifty-something professional lit up as he popped the sweet into his mouth. The tiny prick of needle was hardly noticeable.

His wife chuckled as she regaled her family with the news of his ordeal. Until he said, "But I would do it again. Without the candy--just for her."

The Message

This a heart-warming story but it is nothing compared with the greatest story ever told!
That man sacrificed his manly pride so that he could join his wife on her mission to South America. Jesus sacrificed His life so that we can join Him on His celestial journey. The businessman endured the momentary sting of a fearsome needle so that he could be with a woman whom he knew was utterly lovable. Christ endured the stinging press of a crown of thorns forced into His tender brow to rescue a people who seem totally unlovable and would even scoff at Him.

There was no lollipop to comfort him, just the sting of the beatings from reeds and staff. There was no water for His parched lips, just the water mixed with blood that flowed from His spear-pierced side.

Isaiah puts it this way. "He has poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12 NIV)

Our Savior chose to endure that excruciating agony just for us. He would have done it if there was only one person in need of His substitution. He died alone so that we would never again have to live in this world of sin without support. He won the battle over sin and death. His great sacrifice has been completed for our sake. J. R. Schroeder once wrote, "The cross has revealed to good men that their goodness has not been good enough."

Application

So what can we do? Nothing. Our only hope for eternal life is in Jesus whose love led Him to the cross to die for us. Our only task is to accept that love, grow in it, and become all we can be through His saving grace.

Andrew Murray gives us a comforting reminder, "There is no one so far lost that Jesus cannot find him and save him."

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Contributed by Glenda-mae Greene email:gmgreene@andrews.edu