By: Ashley Peterson
There’s a song titled, “He Did That for Me” by Sara Groves. It starts off very slow and melancholic; like she’s not sure what He did for her. The song ends on an even more pathetic note; yet of course this song made it high on the CCM charts.
As I sat in that theatre watching “my Savior” hang in a devastated state I thought, “He did that for me… why?” Well, the Sunday school answer that came to my mind was, “He loves His children.” But, I knew that it went a bit deeper or quite a bit deeper than that. His love is unlike any love this world knows; unlike any love any human can ever give. We can attempt, fail, attempt again, fail… But, His love never fails; it’s everlasting. He loves us more than He needs to, more than we deserve. So what now? So what are we (His children) going to do about it? Live it.
It’s easy to say, “I love you, Jesus” and go on living a normal, unchanged, unaffected lifestyle. But what makes it any form of love is when we sacrifice; when we no longer place ourselves above anyone else, but instead, we think of ourselves last. We endure the pain of our friends, regardless of what they do to us. He carried on, we to must carry on the best we can through the guidance of His Spirit.
I don’t understand how Sara Groves could sing that song with such mourning and without any passion. After viewing The Passion I want to live life as He wants me to live it – joyfully glorifying the Father. I couldn’t be happier doing anything else. I can never tire of it; there are too many “levels” one can be as they seek after God wholeheartedly. Plus, there’s always the blessings He lays on His people for their sacrifice or obedience.
Thankfully, God was wounded for our disobedience/transgression, bruised for our injustice/iniquity so that we may live without a shameful burden hanging over our heads. We can live without chains, because he wore them for us.
The chains – I don’t believe them to be the physical chains. I’ve taken them to be the chains around our hearts – among other things.
Typically, when we can’t see Him I think it’s because we’re focusing on our chains (our problems, our regrets).
I believe He let them chain His hands (Jesus was a carpenter; therefore His hands were His tool) so we could not only not be chained spiritually but also that we would see the chains have been removed. He is free to do His work – just as we are now free to do His work. Does that make sense?
The work He does in us should continue because He has given His people the power to overcome any obstacles that come our way. We don’t need to run away for our problems to disappear. After all, if Jesus ran from His purpose we would still be bound. All we have to do to receive the power of the blood is to simply ask. Asking seems so simple – even though it’s not.
When Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene wiped up Jesus’ blood of the floor where he was beaten, whipped, and nearly killed it was hard for me to believe that there is “power in the blood” like that old hymn states. But now, I see it. Without His shed blood, we wouldn’t be free. If He wasn’t beaten we’d still have to be beaten for our sins today. But, we don’t. There’s no need for us to “work our way into Heaven” because He’s paved the way through the cross. Though I don’t believe in the “once saved, always saved” mentality, I do believe we don’t have to earn our way – we simply have to live it and have a relationship with the Father.
Not sure I got everything accurate – probably didn’t. There is a lot of random thoughts in this but, that’s how the movie was for me – a thought here, a thought there. I just want God to help me see the true picture, the one He desires me to see.
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