Good Friday for Bad People

Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He died for sinners!  His love is clearly seen in that He carried the sin of the world, the sin of everyone in the past that set up idols and called out to other gods, even after they had seen Him perform miracle after miracle. The sin of all the religious leaders that mocked Him, spit in and slapped His face, wrongfully accused, beat, and nailed Him to a cross.  He died for the present sin in the world today and all future sin to come.  He even died for all those who will refuse to call Him Lord and never give him there life. 

I’m extremely thankful that I didn’t have to be “good enough” for Jesus to die for me.  God doesn’t set a mark and say when you get this good Jesus’ death is for you.  Rather, we’ve all missed the mark so bad that no one even comes close and that is what makes His death so special.  Out of an understanding of this grace, getting something you don’t deserve, should flow a passionate love back to the Father.  We don’t have to wonder if Jesus really loves us, because He proved it by dying for us.  When it should have been me paying the punishment of my sins, it was him.  We should do ourselves a favor and stop calling our sins by prettier names like “problems” or “bad habits”.  It’s simply sin and needs to be repented of; it’s what Christ died for. 

It was sin that separated us from His presence, but when Jesus dies Matthew 27:51 records that the “veil was rent” or the curtain that blocked the entrance to His presence was torn apart!  This was truly a very GOOD Friday for very BAD people.

- Matt