SalvationSample

The sacrifice and the gift

As a child, I struggled with the concept that Jesus died for me so I could experience eternity in heaven. I didn’t understand why He had to. As a teenager I was shocked to learn the unsanitised, raw details of His crucifixion. The physical trauma. The emotional pain He must have endured for His blood and water to separate as it poured out of His body when it was pierced after His death.

As an adult I find it hard to contain my emotion when I think about the sacrifice Jesus made. Not just the extreme torture that led to His physical death, but the intensity of the moment when He experienced spiritual separation from our heavenly Father, taking on the sin of the world. He was the sacrifice necessary to allow for our atonement and reconciliation with God.

But while salvation is free for us, the price Jesus paid for it was high. His sacrifice was necessary for this gift to be available, allowing eternity in heaven to be attainable for all mankind. While He walked this earth, Jesus was surrounded by controversy. He pushed against the established church and its religious leaders, showing time and time again His desire for relationship and discipleship.

Almost 2,000 years since his death, nothing has changed. He still wants us to choose relationship with Him. His death allowed us to choose the gift of salvation and all that comes with it over religious rituals and practices that will never satisfy the debt of sin. What a sacrifice! What a gift! Will you choose the gift of salvation and a relationship with Jesus today?

Written by ABIGAIL GEORGE