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| By Ianpassion Picture was taken at Viewpoint Manang, Satun, Thailand, 2020 |
The thorny vine I discovered while hiking in the jungle
reminded me of how the Son suffered for mankind. He deserved the best crown as
King, but a thorny crown was forced on His head, causing Him to bleed and groan
in agony.
The torment was endured by the Son. I'm still amazed at how much He valued humanity. There will be no curse from Him on those who betrayed, denied, and tortured Him. Isn't that incredible? He could have ignored us and left us to suffer the consequences of our wrongdoing.
But He rescued us as His children (John 1:12), chose us (Ephesians 1:4), and gave us the right and eternal life (John 3:16).
Without a doubt, His pain has become our gain, and His agony has become our glory. There can only be one reason for this, and that is because He loves us. He did not wait for us to be worthy of receiving His love. Before anything good was found, he already loved us. Actually, by man's standards, we are all guilty and unlovable, but with Him, everyone is His beloved.
So, when we doubt His love, I believe it is a wise decision
to recall what He has done for us. Indeed, His love is one of the primary
reasons we are still alive today. Because of His love, we are still able to
enjoy our time with our loved ones. Because of His love, we can still sleep
soundly at night. It is because of His love that we can still enjoy our
favorite foods and beverages. Of course, there are numerous other reasons to be
thankful for His love.
Psalm 136:18 says:
"Give
thanks to the Lord of Lords: His love endures forever. To him who
alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. Who by His
understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever."
As Philip Yancey has stated, there is nothing we can do to
make the Father love us more and nothing we can do to make the Father love us
less. He already loves us as much as an infinite Being can.
