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JESUS IS SOMEONE FOR ALL OF US!
Updated: Dec 23, 2024
Today’s Message of Encouragement from Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES
(Stories of Real People, Real Events, and Real Places)
They are dedicated to providing
Spiritual FOOD FOR THOUGHT
AND HELPING PEOPLE FIND HOPE THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE
(April 4th, 2023)
JESUS
IS
SOMEONE FOR ALL OF US!
Friends Harvard Psychiatrist, Dr Robert Coles, has spent much of his professional life studying children from very poor homes. In 1979 Dr Coles and his son visited one of Rio de Janeiro’s shanty towns where the people had no electricity, no heating, no plumbing, no water, and no medical care.
Within sight of these people was the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer which overlooks the city of Rio. Dr Coles asked a mother living there what she thought of the depiction of Jesus in the monument. She replied: “I look at Christ every day—over there, across the city, on the hill. I think how hard his life was, he was crucified, even if he was God. No, he was crucified because he was God! Oh, I can’t figure out why he was crucified. I can’t figure out why I was born so poor. But I do know this: Jesus is Someone for all of us! He lives in my heart. It is best to remember that, and I do. He loves us, the poor, and he lives!”
Friend, that mother from Brazil’s slum, more eloquently than any preacher, shows that the power of Jesus transforms the lives of all who trust and obey him. He is “Someone for all of us!”
Sometimes people talk to me about feeling alone. They want to know where God is when they are hurting. I can only respond that God is in the same place he was when his son died. He is watching, identifying, and enduring the death with the one he loves. On the cross of Jesus, God allowed himself to be crucified.
Close your eyes. Visit Calvary for a moment. You see a rejected, writhing, abandoned figure on that cross. Nails cruelly pierce his hands and feet. His body has been severely beaten. He is bruised and bleeding. Blood drips from the jagged thorns circling his forehead. And yet, he hangs there willingly.
Friend, in reflecting on Jesus dying upon the Cross of Calvary you are watching an involved, compassionate God in action. After that scene, all human struggling must be understood in the light of God’s suffering. The cross gives meaning, hope, and new life to sufferers. When we want to cry out that “God doesn’t care!” or that “God is immune to pain!” we are brought again to the foot of the cross to see the truth.
When we genuinely take the time to consider the significance of the tremendous sacrifice Jesus Christ made on our behalf, in order that we might experience the beauty of the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life, we are reminded that the cross and resurrection hold the key to the mystery of suffering. Something occurred in those two events that forever affects human suffering. God “broke the power of death and showed us the way of everlasting life” (2 Timothy 1:10).
There is no better teacher than someone who knows what they are talking about because of suffering in their own life, and someone who loves you and will patiently work with you until you too can understand the mystery of suffering. Jesus meets all these criteria to be our perfect spiritual example and mentor.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says that Jesus came to earth to be near us and to identify with us. He suffered because it was appropriate that a Saviour suffer with suffering people. Then, when believers suffer hardships, they know they have a Saviour who really understands what they are going through (Hebrews 4:15-16).
This, my friend, is why Jesus, who offered himself so willingly as a sacrifice for mankind’s sin, is Lord! He understands the human situation totally. He didn’t have it easy. He knew severe suffering. He cried out for relief. He trusted God when it was dark and he didn’t fully understand. That’s why I accept him fully as my teacher and my example in many areas, but especially in suffering.
“When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all!”
Friend, today, I urge you to reflect on the wonderful fact that the Lord of glory willingly emptied himself of the glory he enjoyed with his Father. He descended from glory to bring life to us. He lived and died. Then he ascended to glory. It seems such a simple story!
However, if you are experiencing difficulty in understanding what Jesus has accomplished for you through His suffering on the cross of Calvary, we urge you to write to us for a FREE booklet titled “WHO IS THIS JESUS?” Our address is: 175 Smuts Road, Western Australia 6323. Or you may E-mail your request to: abl-alb@omninet.net.au
If you would like to read more human-interest stories, we invite you to visit our Website Blog at:
(Ron Bainbridge: EDITOR)
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