Living He loved me,
Dying He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He's coming - Oh Glorious Day
Oh Glorious Day!!
Now this chorus is basically the "salvation story" or whatever term you might want to use. But the first four words of the chorus struck me to the core. In church and while sharing the Gospel, we usually focus on Jesus dying on the cross and all the agony and shame that went with that death. And then we focus on the glorifying resurrection and how Jesus conquered death, the grave, hell, and the devil in one fell swoop. And there's nothing wrong with either one of these things - they're absolutely amazing! But do we ever think of how much it meant for Christ, the Son of the Almighty Living God, to actually live with us?
Just imagine, if you can, having everything you could ever want, not having to work for what you have, or even have to care for yourself. All you have to do is just be. Now magnify that times infinity and you still won't fully comprehend what it meant for Christ to leave Glory to come to this planet. Jesus Christ sat on a throne of Glory, at the right hand of the one and only almighty, all powerful, all-knowing God of the universe and was essentially one with Him. And he left that to be born in a manger in a barn surrounded by farm animals. Think about it - that was probably not the best-smelling place and who knows if that manger was even clean? Jesus left streets paved of pure gold to walk on dusty, nasty, dirty, muddy streets in what we now call the Middle East. And seeing as how things weren't that sanitary back in those days, who knows what all was in those streets - if you get my drift.
And probably the most mind-blowing to me, in heaven, Jesus was surrounded by angels and saints who did nothing all day and night for eternity but sing praises to him and worship him. Then, he voluntarily left that to walk among sinners and even made friends with them. Most of the time for us, we don't know someone's lying to us until after the fact. But could you imagine looking someone in the eye and knowing for a fact they are lying to you, and not just that, but you also know their thoughts, their past and future, and why they're saying and doing what they are. You can walk down the street and feel the pain, agony, and worry of all those around you.
Why in the world would anyone in their right mind leave perfection to come to this corrupted place? Many of the things going on in our world today was going on then too. There were corrupted politicians, lying government officials, murders, stealing, hypocritical religious leaders, and legalistic fanatics and so much more. Yet, Jesus (and God) loved us so much that they came to endure - and conquer - this world once and for all even when they knew all these bad things would be awaiting Christ when He came.
Even after thinking all this through, I still can't quite wrap my mind around this. I have a hard enough time this summer having to be somewhere I don't want to be. I'm in a strange town, strange house, and no friends where my internship placement is this year and it has not made me very happy at all. But I'm getting paid for being down here, so that obviously makes things a lot better. But my Jesus loved me so much that He left the only perfect place in the universe and beyond to experience everything we do, only in a more powerful way than we could ever imagine. So I now have a simple answer to the many-times-asked question, "How do I know God loves me?" He lived.
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