I'm at the end of the 90 day Beth Moore study on the life of Jesus and this hit me tonight like a ton of bricks! Let me back track a little bit, today I was reading a group email from close friends we're all weighing in on where we are on the journey right now and one friend wrote this:
"I have started reading Matthew and the verses that talk about how Jesus would climb a mountain or cross a lake or go hide in a garden really have stuck out to me and challenged me…I keep thinking, if Jesus made it a priority to be by himself, then who am I to think I don’t need it??"
Tonight I was reading in Luke one such passage, Jesus is at the Mt of Olives alone, praying? observing? resting? thinking? Probably thinking about what He knew was about to come, the fulfillment of His purpose, His life being sacrificed on that cross. What was going through His mind as He overlooked the city? I wondered to myself... Jesus, did you ever contemplate NOT doing it? Somehow getting around the sacrifice of the cross!? Probably not, but it just hit me, He didn't HAVE to do it!
As I wrote the words, "You didn't HAVE to do it!" in my journal... I thought WOW those are powerful words! In this case it provokes extreme relief and gratefulness that He didn't run from His calling or wash His hands of us all together when that's exactly what we deserved!
But what if I said to you, "You didn't HAVE to do it!" What does it bring to mind... for my missionary friends you didn't have to go, to pack up your whole life and move far away from your loved ones (namely from me!!!), but I hope you look at the precious lives you're touching and are glad. You didn't have to: Get married, but hopefully you roll over and see your spouse and think oh but I am sooo glad I did! Have children: and then they give you sticky kisses and tell you they love you and you can't imagine life without them. The list could go on and on and on.
For others it might go in the "other" direction it might be "I didn't have to do it." Stay in that relationship... let my weight get out of control, say that terrible thing, drink and drive... compromise in that way.... venture off the straight and narrow and take life into my own hands...go further and further into debt... again the list could go on and on!
"You didn't have to do it!" A powerful statement that can go either direction positively or negatively... to describe 1 choice w trillions of consequences!
It becomes even more powerful of a question when I think of Jesus sitting on that Mt of Olives overlooking the city, hypothetically in a moment of decision, He had free will just like us He didn't HAVE to do it. He made a choice and because of that choice... even when we make the wrong ones and set the wheel of consequences in motion in a direction that we never wanted them to go.... because He DID what He didn't HAVE to do (1 choice trillions of consequences).... we have the opportunity to do what we don't HAVE to do, make 1 choice w trillions of consequences to surrender our lives to Him and let His grace and mercy take us in a brand new direction.
You didn't have to do it, but You did! A trillion thank yous! Love, your most needy recipient & one of a trillion consequences.
