Christ didn't have any sin. But God made him become sin for us. So, we can be made right with God because of what Christ has done for us. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIrV)
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Spring is in the air, and love tends to bloom just like the tulips and daffodils in the flower bed (for some who are horticulturally challenged, it's dandelions and clover :-) And along with blooming love comes engagements and weddings. Lots of them! If you are looking for mayhem and chaos to spice up a hum-drum life, just visit a retail bridal store on the weekend in Springtime! It's nuptial madness! :-)
A wedding dress can be as varied and unique as each bride. But, usually, it is white or off-white and gorgeous -- either in its simplicity or its elegance. Beads and crystals, lace and satin -- pristine and pure. And a bride-to-be will guard her dress almost with her life, so that nothing gets on the dress before her big day. It must be perfect.
Now, imagine a bride on her wedding day in her beautiful dress... and a guest slings a handful of mud on her. Then another guest takes a bottle of red wine and pours it all over the front of her dress, and an inebriated person vomits all over the train. Oh my goodness, how awful! How disgusting! All the beauty in that gown is gone, ruined forever...and the bride has been reduced to a puddle of humiliation. Surely this is a nightmare!
Oh, if it only were a bad dream. The reality is that Jesus was that pure wedding gown, and for us, He was thrashed, trashed and humiliated. Our stench and stain of sin was placed on Him so that He could be the holy sacrifice, dying in our place. The brutality that we deserved was dished out to Him. And He took it, for us. Willingly. He said, Throw your filthy insults at Me, spit on Me, tear My flesh with your tools of torture, grind Me into the dusty ground, hoist Me up on a cross as a symbol of all things humiliating. I, as a pure wedding dress, am willing to be soiled and spoiled for you. For all of you. I love you too much to want any of you to die an eternal death, the likes of which make My death look like child's play.
Jesus, the pure, was stained -- and then, slain and laid in a tomb. The Righteous for the unrighteous. And the mystery of God is that our stinking, filthy gown can become pure and clean again, if we choose to accept Jesus as our Lord and savior -- if we choose to believe that He is God and that His sacrifice is sufficient to make us pure and clean.
No one would willingly stain a pure white garment. But Jesus was willing, because our lives depended on it. His grace truly is amazing, isn't it?
Love,
Joelene
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