Good Friday, Holy Friday, Long Friday – whatever you call the day Jesus was crucified – leaves me always in reverent awe. Somebody died for a wretch like me. Not just any death but crucifixion, brutal torture from start to finish. And all this was prophesied hundreds of years before it happened. God knew this had to be done, that much he loved us. That much he yearned for us to be made right with him again. Such love for us.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8, NLT,*)

And it was not just anybody who died for us. It was the Son of God himself, it was Jesus who took upon himself our sins, our trespasses, our ugliness, shame, and selfishness. He who was blameless himself took our punishment. It was our sins that tortured him. Yes, it was us who chanted “crucify him”. Lord, have mercy!

Such love for us

Only God could make something amazingly wonderful out of this horrific event of crucifixion. That’s why this day is not called Bad Friday but good and holy. The hours on the cross were certainly long and awful but it was temporary. Instead, the good that came out of it is eternal. Such love for us.

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. (John 3;16, NIV,*)

Such love indeed. Because of Jesus, we are on our way home to God. That’s why any bad in the lives of believers is only temporary. Victory in Jesus is eternal. God’s grace is eternal. Heaven is eternal. Thank you, Jesus!

 

Gracious God,
You are so amazingly good to us.
There really is no limit to your love.
You even sent Jesus to the cross to die for us.
Forgive our sins, Lord.
Pour out grace upon grace and make us like you.
Thank you for creating something incredibly good out
of the immensely bad.
Lead us home to you!
In Jesus’ precious name,
Amen

Q4U: What are your Good Friday thoughts? How do you feel about such love?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you praise the Lord for such love!

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses toBiblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.].

Linking up today with Dance with Jesus, Five-minute Friday.