“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:17
As I was reading through an account of the life of Christ, it occurred to me what great patience Jesus showed as He walked this earth. Surrounded daily by people rejoicing and reveling in sin, worshiping false gods and money and self. Entrenched in the decadent Roman Empire.
He easily (and justly) could have condemned us all. But that isn’t why He came. Jesus, the Son of God, was sent not to condemn, but to save. To put away sin, not through judgment and wrath, but through the sacrifice of Himself. To show the almighty power and majestic glory of God through this act of astounding grace.
Forgiving. Reconciling. Healing. Cleansing. Perfecting. Seeking out the lost, the lame, the sin-sick souls who appear too far-gone for redemption. Who may believe it’s too late for them, too impossible to get out of the cycle of emptiness and sin and shame.
Jesus came to show abundant mercy by reaching into the mire to draw these out. Clothing them in robes of righteousness and garments of salvation. Demonstrating His great power through the breaking of their chains and the transformation of their hearts into reflections of Christ, who is the exact imprint of the nature of God Most High.
As Jesus walked this earth, He was moved by compassion. Seeing individuals held captive by their sin, He called them out into freedom. Knowing that they are not beyond hope. He was their hope, as He is ours. As we behold Jesus—our Savior, the infinite, holy God who upholds the universe by the word of His power and who laid down His own life for those who had rejected Him—life is ours for the taking. Life abundant and eternal, filled with the relational knowledge and power and love of the living God who is mighty to save.
“And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.”
Zephaniah 3:19b
In Pleasant Places 