Just For Her

The Story  

The middle-aged businessman joined his wife at the medical center. They
needed some pre-travel shots. She had an assignment in South America. He
wanted to accompany her.
“I’ll let you go first,” he told his wife, magnanimous in his chivalry.
What he hoped was that no one would notice that his heart seemed to be
rising above his Adam’s apple. As he watched the nurse prepare a needle
for him, his pulse soared. His mouth grew dry. His palms sprouted tiny
streams of moisture.

“Sir, would you care to sit down?” The all-seeing nurse was gentle as
she poured him a cup of water.

“I’m fine,” he croaked. His focus was on the encroaching needle.

But the nurse knew better. “Here.” She offered him a cherry-flavored
lollipop—a treat stashed away to comfort preschoolers. The eyes of that
fifty-something professional lit up as he popped the sweet into his
mouth. The tiny prick of needle was hardly noticeable.

His wife chuckled as she regaled her family with the news of his ordeal.
Until he said, “But I would do it again. Without the candy—just for
her.”

The Message  

This a heart-warming story but it is nothing compared with the greatest
story ever told!
That man sacrificed his manly pride so that he could join his wife on
her mission to South America. Jesus sacrificed His life so that we can
join Him on His celestial journey. The businessman endured the momentary
sting of a fearsome needle so that he could be with a woman whom he knew
was utterly lovable. Christ endured the stinging press of a crown of
thorns forced into His tender brow to rescue a people who seem totally
unlovable and would even scoff at Him.

There was no lollipop to comfort him, just the sting of the beatings
from reeds and staff. There was no water for His parched lips, just the
water mixed with blood that flowed from His spear-pierced side.

Isaiah puts it this way. “He has poured out his life unto death, and was
numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12 NIV)

Our Savior chose to endure that excruciating agony just for us. He would
have done it if there was only one person in need of His substitution.
He died alone so that we would never again have to live in this world of
sin without support. He won the battle over sin and death. His great
sacrifice has been completed for our sake. J. R. Schroeder once wrote,
“The cross has revealed to good men that their goodness has not been
good enough.”

Application  

So what can we do? Nothing. Our only hope for eternal life is in Jesus
whose love led Him to the cross to die for us. Our only task is to
accept that love, grow in it, and become all we can be through His
saving grace.

Andrew Murray gives us a comforting reminder, "There is no one so far
lost that Jesus cannot find him and save him."