Do Not Take This Lightly

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

Do Not Take This Lightly

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 scarce can take it in.”

I was reading through the book of Hebrews and was stung, taken aback, 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, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has 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.

Can’t you 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 busy schedule?”

When we think about the sacrifice Jesus made for you and for me, let’s be sure we 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.” J)

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 while 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, on Sundays, and then go about your business … as if it is all about you … I will be greatly offended. Greatly.”

Are you treating as nothing special Jesus’ sacrifice for you? Are you ignoring him for most 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?

As Easter fades – which it never should – I implore you to embrace Jesus, to think deeply about what he did for you – and 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.