Many years ago there was a young boy who continually got into trouble. He was forever breaking rules at home and also got into trouble at school. His father could not understand why.
He provided for the boy with a good home; he spent time with the boy fishing and going to his ballgames; and, he showered him with his unconditional love. The father just could not figure out why the boy would not obey and not mind the rules set for him.
The son was raised going to church, and had been part of Sunday school for five years. The father consistently read the Bible to his son and never provoked him to anger. His son’s behavior was a mystery to him.
One day the boy was upstairs in his room playing around with his baseball. He had repeatedly been told not to do this…as a result, he ended up breaking one of his bedroom windows. The boy was ten years old and certainly knew better…his father had told him time and again not to play with the ball in the house.
The father headed upstairs and took off his belt. The boy thought he knew what was going to happen and voluntarily bent over and kneeled next to his bed expecting the punishment. But the father said to him, “Son, here, take this belt”, which his son did.
Then the father took off his shirt and kneeled down on at the bed and said, “Son, I want you to give me seven lashes with this belt across my back.”
The boy started to cry and told his father he couldn’t do it. The father kept insisting until the son finally relented and started hitting his father across the back with the belt…but with strokes that were not hard enough.
The father said, “Harder, son, harder!” When the boy finally lashed the belt across the father’s back seven times with greater force, the father asked him, “Son, do you know why I had you do this?
The son, with tears coming down his cheeks, said, “No.”
The father replied, “When Jesus went to the cross for us, He took the worst punishment that has ever been inflicted upon any man. He was pummeled; he was beaten; He was punished like no one has ever been punished.
“Who do you really think did this to Jesus?” The father asked. The boy, still whimpering, hesitated and finally said he thought it was the Jews or the Romans. The boy’s father explained, “No, it was God the Father who punished Jesus for everything that all have ever done wrong or will every do wrong in the future. Jesus took the punishment that He didn’t deserve to save those who didn’t deserve saving. That is how much the Father and Jesus love us.” (John 3:16). “It was God’s love most gloriously displayed for all who actually deserve His wrath.”
The boy was deeply shaken by this lesson. From that day forward, he did not get into the same amount of trouble…he was not perfect, but he was changed. Maybe it was because he wasn’t sure how his dad would react again…or, maybe he didn’t want to use the belt on his dad ever again. The father never said anything more about it.
However, the message of God’s love displayed on the cross by Christ forever changed this young man…and, it changes forever all who become believers. By no means was the boy perfect after that…and, neither are we who believe and have accepted Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us.
- Author Unknown
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But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV
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