The Top Shelf: The Self-Sacrificing God — Monday
Matthew 27:50
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. (NIV)
Long before Jesus gave up His spirit, He endured scoffing, mockery, and betrayal, along with familial and community ostracization; toward the very end, He endured severe physical beatings, including carrying His own cross until He could no longer stand up under its weight. So eventually, after hours of hanging from that same cross, He gave up His Spirit and died.
Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross, but leading up to that moment were countless challenges and heartaches. We put our focus during this final week of our series, The Top Shelf, on the God who sacrifices Himself. All of us reading this in the US have lived in a time and place where the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible is the dominant religion. From our nation's founding through now, despite the erosion of this worldview, it’s not crazy to consider God as sacrificial. For the last 2,000 years, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God-man, has drastically changed how many Westerners interact with God and think of deity.
I point all of this out because it’s hard to consider how radical this idea would have been in the time before Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross—and the incredible impact it had as a result. For thousands of years, a relationship with a god or gods was based essentially on the worshippers' appeasement of the angry gods controlling the known and unknown world around them.
Even the God of the Bible, as recorded in the Old Testament, required a myriad of sacrifices from His worshippers to atone for their sins. But amazingly, this same God chose to pour out His unfathomable love on His creation by sending His one and only Son, Jesus, to sacrifice His life—all so that we can have a redeemed relationship with God.
Monday’s Reflection
Today, close your eyes and envision Jesus hanging on the cross, completely lifeless. As your mind pictures this, thank and worship God for the sacrifice of His Son.
