“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
Wouldn’t it be great to be treated right, Especially by those above us? Imagine having a boss who promptly glorified our success and quickly overlooked our mistakes. It would be easy to be submissive to such people. Alas! Such occurrences are rare. The Bible says, If you want your acts to be commendable, you must learn to be submissive not just to those who are good and gentle but more importantly to those who are harsh. I find it extremely difficult until I look at the cross, where the Sinless took what I deserved.
Jesus never demanded respect. He deserved it. Whether people respected Him or not was their choice. He never let their action change His behaviour towards them. The Son of God, who was blameless, suffered for doing good. He was humiliated, beaten, tortured but refused to retaliate because Jesus trusted the Father to be the just judge. Jesus willingly endured the unjust suffering to free us from our sins and heal us. He bore our sins on the cross to pay the penalty for our wrongful actions. God judged Christ for our sins, pouring His wrath on His own Son to satisfy the payment for our sin.
Today, because of Jesus’s obedience and submission and our faith in Christ, we have been freed by God’s grace. We are free from the power of sin to poison our choices. We are free to make the right choices that please and honour our God. It is easy to be submissive to those who are harsh to us, knowing we live in grace undeserving. Being healed, we are free to serve. We are free to love because we know God Almighty loves us.
Prayer: Loving Lord and Master, thank you for showing us the path of righteousness and obedience. We glorify you for being submissive and willingly taking the path, to redeem us from our sins and to unite us to the Heavenly Father. We adore you and remember the cross with a grateful heart. We place our trust and faith in you, confessing our freedom and our healing by Your stripes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
