GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday.

The cross, the shame, the pain, the loss.

It makes us turn away.

Scripture records that Jesus was marred beyond recognition. Yet my friend Sandy, who has suffered long with cancer, told me that through her pain, when everything feels like it's being taken away, Jesus has never looked more beautiful.

So why do we fear loss when the very thing we most need - the true desire of our soul - will never be taken from us?

Yet I hold many things close, a death grip on ideas, dreams, the comforts of a life unburdened from the heaviness, the way it should be, the way I should be. But at the cross, when all is surrendered, Jesus remains in exchange for every earthly treasure.

I wonder. 

If we knew what would be gained if we opened our hands and released our control, our fears, would we? Sometimes, our hands must be nailed to our own crosses, against our will, to experience what is true.

"Your sin has separated you from Me," God says. 

So why would we want to hang on to it one moment more if we knew our sin, which drains us of life, would be replaced with Life Himself? His mercy flows freely to you and to me.

God withholds nothing good from His children. 

Jesus does not withhold Himself from you.

Child, see your Glory, hanging on the cross - marred beyond recognition, open hands that were willingly nailed to the cross, because every earthly treasure He desired was gained by His release.

You are the treasure He sought.

Child, see your Glory, arms spread wide to tear down every wall you've built around you, every way you've tried to protect what you hold dear, what you think can sustain you.

Jesus cries from the cross, "I AM your shield."

You needn't barricade the door.

"I AM your glory."

 You don't have to bear that shame.

"I AM the lifter of your head."

The fight is over. 

It is finished.

And behold, you still have Me.

"But You, o Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head."

Psalm 3:3, ESV