Personal

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. —Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

God became personal for you and for me. In the person of His son, Jesus Christ, God became human when He was born into this world, but it was at Calvary that He became intensely personal. You can’t get much more personal than when you die for someone else. When He gave His life on Calvary, He took sin that separated us from God, and defeated it once and for all. In His Resurrection, He conquered death. When we accept Him into our hearts, we have the assurance of abundant life now and eternal life forever. The wounds He suffered on Calvary bring healing of body, mind, and spirit. God who created you and me, with no restraint and no hesitation, laid down His life and became a living sacrifice so we might have peace with Him and peace within our own hearts.

There is a difference between God becoming personal and us experiencing it. The gift of His life at Calvary is what offers us a personal God, but it is our “yes” in surrender that gives us a personal relationship with Him. Our acceptance of the gift of His life makes God personal. He, who was without sin, was pierced and wounded because of ours. What should have been our punishment, became His. Such love calls for a response. It is impossible to ignore. We either accept it or reject it. If we accept it, we discover the incredible depth and power of His love that died for us. If we reject it, we miss the greatest love ever offered.

What is our response? Do we allow Him just a little of ourselves, and reserve our total commitment?  We want to approach Him. We want to come boldly before Him in our time of need, but we don’t want to obediently give Him our own surrender and sacrifice. Perhaps we want to hold on to a gift or even a calling that has become more important than He is. But He asks us to lay everything down for His sake—just as He laid all down for ours. Sometimes we must lose whatever has become too important to understand that it isn’t what really matters. He is what is important. His love is all that matters.

His offer lies before us. If we accept His love, and place Him above everything else, we discover a personal God beyond human imagination. When we surrender to the omnipotent God who created us and gave His life so that we might be free, we respond to His sacrifice with an obedient heart and life. He becomes more than personal. He becomes life.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

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