This week think on the consequence of your sin.

It is impossible to imagine the pain, the grief, the sorrow Christ endured in dying such a public, agonizing death. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that it was “for the joy that was set before Him” that Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame” (12:2).
 
Shame is a dreadful thing. Our Lord was stripped naked . . . Think of the embarrassment . . . before all the onlookers. He was then beaten like a common criminal and finally nailed to a cross. He endured the physical shame, the emotional shame, and what was worse, the spiritual shame as the Father turned away His face from all the vile sinfulness Jesus was bearing in His own body on the cross.
 
Jesus, the heaven-sent Messenger of God’s love, the only begotten Son of the Father, had to suffer not only the guilt but the shame of the sin of the entire world . . . murderers, molesters, racists, liar’s, and cheats. Bearing the sin of them all is one— the One Called Christ!
 
Around nine hundred years ago, a monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, may have described it best: O sacred Head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down. Now scornfully surrounded, with thorns, thine only crown. . . . How art thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn! How does thy appearance languish (suffer), which once was bright as morn!
 
This week spend some time at the foot of the cross, read the account of Jesus trial and crucifixion again. As you read think on your sin and think of the shame He bore that you might be seen or looked on as righteous. Stay for a while in His suffering presence, Jesus’ payment deserves our serious reflection.
 
In His Service,
Eric Barnes