Today is Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent. A day when many people throughout the world proclaim that they are going to give up something for Jesus for 40 days. All of this sacrifice leads up to Easter. The day we as Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after His sacrifice.

While I appreciate the thought of Lent, I also understand that I could never out-sacrifice Jesus. I also understand that I am to be sacrificing anything that muddles my relationship with Jesus on a daily basis. I am to sacrifice myself until there is nothing more of me and all of Him (Galatians 2:20).

Giving up one thing for 40 days is perhaps the place to start, but I might encourage each of you to think about Jesus’ sacrifice and determine if giving up chocolate or Facebook for 40 days is enough.

I’d like to share an excerpt from a book that I just love. The author, Debbie Williams, has filled my soul with laughter, tears, desire to study God’s Word and spend time with Him in prayer, and a longing to obey His commands. She has a way with words that thrills me. So please read through these words from “Pray with Purpose: Live with Passion.”[i]

“Picture the quiet village of Nazareth, where the culmination of an eternal promise is about to be put into motion. The Holy Spirit moves upon the virgin Mary, and the heavenly Father begins weaving the Savior of the world within her womb. Imagine Him forming every fiber of Jesus’s body, shaping His eyes that would one day penetrate the masses. His hands that would touch disease-ridden bodies and bring healing. His lips that would teach us to pray. Consider the care with which the Father formed His Beloved Son’s tiny back, knowing it would one day carry the weight of our sins at Golgotha.

“Imagine how the Father must have hovered in anticipation when Mary went into labor, how He must have proudly watched the birth of His beloved Son. What rejoicing must have echoed through heaven when Jesus let out His first cry and the heavenly host looked on the innocence of Jesus, Savior of the world.

“Never before and never since has a father celebrated his baby’s birth in such a spectacular manner. Our heavenly Father placed a glorious star in the sky to herald His Son’s birth. He sent musical birth announcements by way of angels. He invited shepherds to come and see His Beloved Son. The Father sent birthday gifts fit for a king by way of wise men.

“As great as the Father’s love was that first Christmas, consider God’s love and pleasure as he watched His Beloved Son grow in stature and favor with mankind. Imagine the heavenly excitement on the day of Jesus’s baptism when the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and the Father spoke from heaven, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’ (Matthew 3:17). The Father loved and esteemed His only begotten Son.

“How could it be, then, that the Father was silent when His Beloved Son was tied to a whipping post? Where was His Father when Jesus endured scourging almost to the point of death? Where was His Father when Jesus stumbled and fell under the weight of the cross? Where had He turned His gaze when His Beloved Son cried to Him, ‘Why have You forsaken Me?’ (Matthew 27:46).

“The Father’s love-filled eyes were looking at you and me.”

If you were to look at the notes around this section of this book, you’d see these words I’ve written, “What a picture of the relationship between Father and Son.” “Oh, how I love Jesus.” “Wow!”

Oh, what a sacrifice God the Father and Jesus the Son made for you and me. Far beyond what I could imagine. Far beyond what I could repay. But it was their gift, their decision, their desire. They sacrificed it all so that we might know forgiveness and live in grace and peace.

I pray that you’ll allow God to use these words for His instruction in your life. Then we might ask ourselves, “What am I willing to give up for Jesus?”

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna

[i] Pray with Purpose: Live with Passion, Debbie Williams, New York: Howard Books, 2006, p. 61-62.