“WHAT HAVE YOU EVER DONE FOR ME!”
Here is a saying that you can trust. It should be accepted completely. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the worst sinner of all. I Tim. 2:15
Parenting is hard work and though sometimes it’s so very rewarding, it can be equally painful. Ask God. He created, fathered, sacrificed, only to see the majority of His creation use His name in vain, shake their fist at Him, ignore Him completely, or chalk up His character as mean, stingy, and vengeful. I’ve heard more than one person say, “What has He ever done for me?”
If you’ve been a parent, it would be like crawling on your hands and knees from San Francisco to Maine to prove your love to your child, arriving, and then having your child say, “You’ve never done anything for me!” With knees still bloody from the journey, you wouldn’t believe your ears nor begin to fathom such blindness to sacrificial love.
Jesus came to save us. It wasn’t quick or painless. It was His response to the wounds He sustained in the Garden of Eden. The pain had to have been severe. God does grieve. God does weep. The plan of redemption came at great cost. He asked His Son to leave glory, put on mortal flesh, suffer rejection and persecution at the hands of those He created, and then die the worst death possible in order to display His love. By His blood, we can be spared eternal wrath. And yet, the gift seems like a trifle to so many. I contend that, for me, the cross is not just central to Easter. It’s central to my everyday. I must never forget everything that it means. At the epicenter of something so gruesome was a love so exquisite, I’ll never be able to take it in.
In closing, here’s another picture. After completing your San Francisco/Maine journey, you see your child waiting for you over the finish line. They are cheering, arms open to receive you, and their face is stained with tears. Today, I offer this to my Savior. I cheer Him as being the Great Savior. I open my heart to more of me, and my face is tearfully joyful at so great a love.
For the many years I treated You casually, and the cross recklessly, forgive me. Amen
For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org
Originally published Friday, 05 May 2023.
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