No matter how hard I try, I still cannot completely understand why Jesus did what He did.  I know part of my problem is that I will write some people off if I believe that we cannot be real friends.  To me, there are too many other people “out there” who would like to be friends with me to concern myself winning those who don’t seem to want it.

It’s a good thing for all of us that Jesus thinks differently.  I will speak for myself, but I was not looking for anything from Jesus.  Oh sure, as a “good” Irish Catholic lad, I was confident that I was heaven bound (even though I would freely admit that you could only loosely define me as a “good” Catholic – extremely loosely).  I had no concept of what sin was doing in my life, no idea that I could do better, or be better.  I was human, (and Catholic), and as long as I could keep away from killing someone, I was sure for a place in heaven (even if it was the room next to the noisy ice machine for all eternity).

As I progress in my journey with God, I am learning how sin is much worse than we think.  Not because “it’s bad”.  God is not some cosmic do-gooder, bent on ruining our fun down here on earth.  The point is that our sin works against us two different ways.  The first is that it hurts us – perhaps not physically (and perhaps it does), but certainly emotionally, and spiritually.  It also hurts us because until the sin is dealt with it limits God’s ability to do the things in us that are truly the best for us (in our language – to bless us).  Having said that, I want to make it clear that God is not some sort of bellhop either – this is not an “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” proposition.  Believe me, the less sin that is in your life, the less you have to worry about.

Sin is the whole reason for Jesus coming to earth, and dying on the cross.  I explain this lot (I know – a LOT), but I do it as much as a reminder to me as to you.  The difference between the work of atonement in the Old Testament and the New is important.  Atonement in the Old Testament only served to cover sin (remember the Atonement Cover on the Ark?).  In the New Testament Jesus Himself “atoned” for our sins by taking them from us and utterly destroying them through His blood.  In one sense, our sins (all of them) have been wiped out by Jesus’ death on the cross.  They have been dealt with.

He did this long before any of us even gave Him even a millisecond of thought.