Forgotten, forsaken, alone. Nearing his final breath, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Feeling utterly abandoned by His friends, His family, and now Father God, our Sweet Savior cried out with His last breath and gave up His Spirit.
There are very few pains greater in life than feeling abandoned by a parent. An absent parent leaves a scar inside of you that often leaves you questioning yourself, questioning who you are; always questioning if you will ever be enough, and if everybody else around you is enough. It leaves a broken heart that is difficult to recover from. And you often make choices you regret because of that scar. But what about Jesus? I could not begin to imagine what it would have been like for Him to have the weight of the world on his shoulders and feeling forsaken by His Father in His final moments before death.
The only greater pain that I know of than that of an absent parent is the pain of loosing a child. No pain becomes greater than a lost child. Any good parent would unconditionally endure the former pain if it meant the life of their child. I’d like to turn that around and ask you to think about the fact that that is exactly what Jesus did.
Alone and forsaken on a cross, He died so that WE WOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY the price that sin demands: total separation from God the Father.
On the cross, the debt of sin has been paid. Let me say it again: He took our place on the cross so that we could become Children of God!
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18 NIV
Sin condemns us. Jesus redeems us. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned.”
Friendship with your Heavenly Father is yours for the taking. There is nothing that the Father would love more than a friendship with you.
Let Him become the Father you’ve needed.
You are the child He’s always wanted.
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Author Anne Day 