"Let us carefully remember that our blessed Lord suffered and died of His own free will. He did not die because He could not help it; He did not suffer because He could not escape. All the soldiers of Pilate's army could not have taken Him, if He had not been willing to be taken. They could not have hurt a hair of His head, if He had not given them permission. But here, as in all His earthly ministry, Jesus was a willing sufferer. He had set His heart on accomplishing our redemption. He loved us, and gave Himself for us, cheerfully, willingly, gladly, in order to make atonement for our sins. It was the "joy set before Him" which made Him endure the cross, and despise the shame, and yield Himself up without relunctance into the hands of His enemies. Let this thought abide in our hearts, and refresh our souls. We have a Saviour who was far more willing to save us than we were willing to be saved. If we are not saved, the fault is all our own. Christ is just as willing to receive and pardon, as He was willing to be taken prisoner, to bleed, and to die." -John Charles Ryle
First and foremost our Lord's heart was His Father's heart. And the Father loved the Son with a perfect love, and valued nothing higher than His beloved Son. And yet the Father gave His Son for rebels and sinners like us. Amazing.
4 comments:
I am always in awe of what he did for me!
And it's a blessing to be in awe. Lord bless.
Is the top picture Jesus? I wonder how we know what he looks like, there are certainly plenty of artists impressions. The bottom picture seems to be Charles Darwin?
You are lucky to see ospreys, they are truly magnificent birds!
The top picture is the actor James Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson's film, 'The Passion of the Christ'.
And JC Ryle does look like Darwin a bit. They are both from England, and darwin lived: 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882. Bishop Ryle lived: May 10, 1816 - June 10, 1900.
So perhaps they knew one another as well.
Thanks for dropping in Jim.
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