Psalm 22:14-15
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

It’s difficult to imagine the agony that Jesus Christ endured as He suffered on His cross.  It’s hard for us to imagine the physical effects of a crucifixion on a human body.  It is perhaps unpleasant to imagine what He must have endured, especially knowing as we do that it was for our sakes that He endured it.  But there is Jesus on His cross, broken and disjointed, bleeding and weakened, thirsty and hurting, drained completely as His life flowed away.

Jesus was empty of self but full of love.  He had set aside His glory, but He retained His grace and mercy.  He was God Himself, but He was willing to be a sacrifice on an altar, a Lamb slain.  He was holy, sinless, and undefiled but willing to be made sin for us.  He was innocent and blameless but willing to endure the wrath of God.  He went to the extreme.  This was a true emptying of everything that He had within Him.  He was willing to give up those good things to take on what He didn’t deserve to bear.

And then there’s us, healed by His wounds, freed by His sacrifice, redeemed by His blood.  There’s us, mankind, corrupted by sin and full of darkness, bathed in His light and revived by His life.  We gain so much because of what He gave.  We reap a great reward by His ultimate sacrifice.  We, the most unworthy, receive from those pierced hands forgiveness and peace and salvation and hope.  We benefit because of what He went through.  And that was His purpose.  We were His focus.  And His aim was to make right everything that had been so wrong.

And what will we do with that?  How we will live knowing we only live because of Christ?  What can we endure that maybe we thought we couldn’t?  What can we give that we didn’t want to lose?  Where can we go that we tried to avoid?  What will we risk?  How can we change?  Let’s not take for granted the sacrifice of our Savior.  Let’s not take lightly the lives we’ve gained when He wrenched our souls from the fist of death and set us free.  Let’s not settle for giving anything less than our best and our all to the One who gave His all for us.