Questions
“Don’t you find it strange that you celebrate Good Friday?” “What do you believe happened on that day?” “If it really was the crucifixion of Jesus, then why would you call it Good Friday?”
It was no longer a surprise to me when I received such questioning from this individual. This man, several times my senior, was of a different religious persuasion, but I had come to understand that God was gently nudging at his heart and his questions were because of the internal battle he was experiencing.
Confident Assurance
So, to the questions he asked and the matter at hand, why is it Good Friday?…What’s ‘good’ about it? On this day, we were introduced to Love in perfect form. Perfect Love; a most profound demonstration, a selfish act of redemption which has permanently transformed the destiny of mankind. An expression of love which is all encompassing and all inclusive. This is the love of the cross! and it transcends man’s ability to fully define or understand it.
He Chose Love
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].
1 John 4:10 (AMP)
The beautiful part of this is that Jesus had nothing to gain from His decision to die for us. As the son of God, he had everything at His disposal to remove Himself from the grip of His accusers, and halt the crucifixion. Instead, He chose love, he chose us. Jesus endured the bad so that we might have the good, and that’s what’s good about Good Friday.
Now We Get to Choose
Daily, we get to choose. As we return to that place of remembrance today, to appreciate His goodness and bask in His love, I trust that we will be refreshed and renewed in Him. I trust that we as we consider this perfect demonstration of God’s love, we will fall in love with him all over again.
17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
Ephesians 3: 17-19
