We usually think of Jesus’ sacrifice for us at Easter time.\u00a0 We recall His willingness to submit to His Father’s will and endure the agony of the crucifixion.\u00a0 Indeed, that was a great sacrifice which bought us our eternal salvation, but there was another sacrifice that Jesus made long before He was nailed to the cross.<\/p>\n
Jesus was in a beautiful place; surrounded by those who loved Him.\u00a0 He enjoyed being with His Father and the angels sang His praises day and night.\u00a0 His life was filled with peace and\u00a0love, hope and happiness.\u00a0 Yet, Jesus saw the condition of mankind and chose to become our Savior.<\/p>\n
He chose to come as a little baby, born to an unwed mother.\u00a0 He chose to be born in a dusty stable, surrounded by animals, instead of in\u00a0a palace.\u00a0 He was the son of a carpenter and grew up in the obscure village of Nazareth.\u00a0 He chose to live a life of simplicity, when He actually had a right to all things.<\/p>\n
Jesus never really had a home of his own as an adult.\u00a0 He travelled and slept under the stars.\u00a0 Basically, He was homeless.\u00a0 No one believed that He was the Son of God. In fact He was accused of blasphemy for making such a claim.\u00a0 He hung out with a strange bunch of guys and was hated by the church leaders of His day.<\/p>\n
Isaiah53:5 tells us about His suffering for us.\u00a0 He was beaten, spat upon, cursed, and made to carry his own cross up Golgotha.\u00a0 He knew from the beginning of time all the things He would suffer for us, yet to still chose to do it.\u00a0 He understood His destiny long before that night in the stable.\u00a0 He knew what had to be done and He was the only one in the universe pure enough to do it.<\/p>\n
Yet, knowing all the pain and ugliness that awaited Him in this life, still He chose to come.\u00a0 This is the ultimate sacrifice.\u00a0 He wasn’t forced to leave His Father’s side.\u00a0 No one demanded that He give up His home in Heaven.\u00a0 He chose to do it because of His great love for us.\u00a0 This I believe this\u00a0is the forgotten sacrifice.\u00a0 This was the beginning of a life filled with sacrifices.\u00a0 His journey to the cross was the completion of plan, but His sacrifice came much earlier in the history of Christendom.<\/p>\n
Let’s remember this sacrifice as we celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus into this world.\u00a0 Let’s realize that it was a choice He made; a choice to lay His own life down for others.\u00a0 Thank you Jesus for that sacrifice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We usually think of Jesus’ sacrifice for us at Easter time.\u00a0 We recall His willingness to submit to His Father’s will and endure the agony of the crucifixion.\u00a0 Indeed, that was a great sacrifice which bought us our eternal salvation, but there was another sacrifice that Jesus made long before He was nailed to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-news-or-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n