When I was a little girl, my brother and I would visit our maternal grandparents’ house sometimes. I remember in the summertime, my grandfather would come in from working hard all day outside in his own yard or working hard outside doing landscaping on someone else’s property. Praise God, he was a man who was not afraid of a hard day’s work. He would be all sweaty and would immediately come in and get a shower. When he was clean, he would always get himself a “cold beer”. I put it in quotes, because I can still hear him saying those words in my head after all these years.
He would sit down to drink his “cold beer” with the scent of Old Spice wafting off of him. He would ask me, “Hey bub, how much do you love me?” I would curl up in his lap and stretch my arms out as far as they could go out to the left and to the right. “I love you this much,” I would say. He would chuckle or give me a hug. Sometimes, he would tease me and say, “Is that all?” I, not wanting to disappoint anyone, would try my very best to extend my arms out as far as I could stretch. There might have even been some face contortions, grunting, or groaning as I would do my best to stretch my farthest. Those are good memories for me.
There is someone who did the same for me. There were face contortions I am sure, grunts, and groans. Someone who stretched His arms out as wide as He could to tell me how much He loved me, and that is Jesus Christ.
There is no greater time than this week to remember what Christ did for me on that cross. Jesus Christ, over 2,000 years ago, sacrificed Himself so that everyone, not just me, could be free from sin and have the opportunity to live with Him if we choose to accept His love.
There is no sin too big. His death was enough to pay the price that needs to be paid for all of our sins. 1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV) says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”
Easter time, to me, is when the real work was done. Christ had to be obedient unto death. He was whipped, mocked, tortured, and killed. He could have called angels down to help Him or backed out in fear, but he didn’t. Why? He loved, and still loves, us that much. What a great time to remember what Christ did for us. Share it with your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, and your children.
The Bible says in John 15:13 (NKJV), “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus couldn’t have loved us any more. Jesus couldn’t have stretched any farther than He did. I am so thankful that He did and saved a poor, wretch like me. Happy Easter to everyone. He is risen! He is risen indeed!