Do Not Take This Lightly (Part 4 of 4-Part Easter Series)

“Gratitude must be constantly fed. Resentment feeds on itself.” (Unknown) 

I want us to keep thinking about Easter, and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Instead of just a ‘week of Easter Eggs and Communions,’ let us keep contemplating his sacrifice for each of us. 

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;  
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;  
That on a Cross, my burdens gladly bearing,  
He bled and died to take away my sin. 
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,  
How great Thou art, How great Thou art. 

I was reading through the book of Hebrews and was stung, taken aback, cut to the quick, by a warning at chapter 10:29: 

How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 

“To trample underfoot, and to treat as an unholy thing,” means to consider something common, nothing special, to give it no value in your life. Or even worse, to consider it worthless. 

As we move on from Easter, and the sacrifice Jesus made for you and for me, I want to challenge you to consider this warning seriously. (If I were writing to only the men in the 721 meetings I would say it more bluntly, with a Southern colloquialism: “I hope this slaps you upside the head.”) 

The Holy Spirit is warning us not to take lightly the sacrifice Jesus offered and the blood he shed on that cross. It is as if God is saying, “After what my son endured for you, the beatings, the bloody, horrific whipping, the horror of the hours of suffocating to death on that cross – if you take a casual, ho-hum approach to him, if you just give him an hour or so a week, and then go about your business as if it is all about you … I will be greatly offended. Greatly.” 

Again, I can hear God saying, “My son took on himself your sins, he took your blame, he took your shame, naked and humiliated, and you just give him a few minutes a day, or a prayer when you’re worried, and then you ignore him, not wanting him to interfere with your personal schedule?” 

So I ask, are you treating Jesus’ sacrifice for you as nothing special? Are you ignoring him for the most part of each day? Not intentionally, of course, but the end result is still the same.  

Be honest with yourself. The stakes are so high. The rewards are so great. Does the fact that Jesus gave his life for you – gave his life for you – change your day-to-day life? At least in some of the details each day … at least some days? 

As Easter fades, I implore you to embrace Jesus’ sacrifice, to think deeply about what he did for you, what he offers you, and to begin to bring him into every detail of your life. Make it personal. Make him personal.  

Then let your soul sing out, 

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,  
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;  
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,  
Thy power throughout the universe displayed. 

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,  
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.