God of life and love, pour out a rich blessing of whatever this dear reader needs today in their life; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text today comes from Isaiah 53: 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
Wounded, crushed, punished, and bruised. Not on our "TO DO" list is it? Yet, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming of one who would have those things done to his body. Notice the to-do list has a second part: Our, our, us, we. The prophet knew it was coming to someone and the prophet knew the cause behind it and that cause was us.
We are fast approaching Holy Week and the images of that entire week blur by the time we get to Good Friday, for it was on Good Friday that we remember all that was done to Jesus on our behalf. Our sinfulness was the reason Jesus was wounded, crushed, punished, and bruised. Our, our, us, we. Our trangressions. Jesus didn't cross any lines of proper behavior, but I have and so have you. Our iniquities. While we don' t use that word much, it still means we mess up "big time!" I have and so have you. The punishment and the bruises serve to make us whole and to heal us. And I need it and so do you.
May the days between now and Good Friday strengthen our faith and hope in the Lord of life. After all, it's all about Him and what He did because of "our, our, us, we."
PRAYER: Loving God, I thank You for Jesus and all that He suffered for and because of my sake. Let me truly be aware of this in these days. Let that Friday that we call Good, serve to bring to me that wholeness and healing that I so desperately need. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
