Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful new day and in our Holy Week, I am humbled beyond words and grateful beyond measure that the hand of God, who formed Adam out of clay and furrowed truth into tablets and as the psalmists said in Psalm 44:2-3 "you drove out the nations with Your hand... It was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance", would choose to take the nails. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to the cross.
Between His hand and the wood there was a very long list ... that include our mistakes, our lusts, our lies, our greed, our prodigal years, an itemized catalog of our sins, our bad decisions, bad attitudes and all our mistakes...
There, in broad daylight for all of heaven to see, is a list of our mistakes...
The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can't be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand: those down the list are covered by His blood. Our sins are "blotted out" by Jesus.
"He has forgiven us all our sins:he has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.. (Col 2:14).
Jesus Himself chose the nails.
So the hands of Jesus opened up. Had the soldier hesitated, Jesus Himself would have swung the mallet. He knew how: He was no stranger to the driving of nails. He knew the purpose of the nail was to place our sins where they could be hidden by His sacrifice and covered by His blood.
So Jesus Himself swung the hammer. The same hand that stilled the seas stills our guilt. The same hand that cleansed the Temple cleanses our heart. The hand is the hand of GOd. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you and I.
Let us live today in gratitude and incredible humbleness with a servant heart for all He did for us on the cross and always REMEMBER the healing and freedom we have through His love that must be shared with all we come in contact with.
AMEN
*Source, God's word, Holy Spirit, Max Lucado He Chose The Nails
