Would you be ready to die for your friends?
I have bad news for you. Hold on! Don’t be sad before I tell you I also have a good news. The best news in the world!
Which would you like me to start with? With the bad one, right? To get rid of it.
In Romans 6:23 it is written:
“The wages of sin is death”
How scary! You want to tell me that, when I do a bad thing, when I don’t listen to my mother, when I beat my younger sister, I have to pay?
Yes, this is what God tells us in His Word: the wages of sin is death. Did you sin too? Maybe today?!
Each one of us has things that are tormenting us, such as: again my brother took my notebook and bent it making it ugly, my mother sends me again to take out the garbage. Ah! I want to be on the phone; I don’t want to hear these words.
Many times we struggle with these things, but sometimes we fail, that means we sin. Is there a child among us who made his mother sad today and doesn’t even care? Don’t you care that your mother is saddened by the way you talked to her? Stop! At least now. Do you hear what the Bible says? The wages of sin is death. What awful news! You see God wants to teach us – even humanly if you steal, kill someone, and so on, you have to be punished, you have to go to jail.
The good news
But now, I think it’s time to give you the GOOD NEWS, right?
There is an escape that I would like you to know about.
There is Someone who calls you a friend, and He has the best news for you:
John 15:13
”Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
He, Jesus, calls you a friend! Do you know who He is? He owns all the Earth. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
However, He wants to die in your place, for there is no greater love than His. Jesus looks at you and does not know how to show you how much He loves you, how much He appreciates you, how much He wants you to be His. He knows no other way than to pay in your place, to take the punishment in your place, that’s why He gives Himself to death in your place.
Here’s how He chose to die for you! He looked at you, at the rude way you respond to your mother and father, at how annoying you are, and at your selfishness, he saw how you sometimes lie, he saw you when you stole… He saw you and chose to die in your place like this:
Isaiah 53: 3
”He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He was so greatly despised that you would turn your face from His.. He was pierced for our sins and crushed for our iniquities… He was tormented and oppressed… ”
John 19:3
“Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. They beat him… they braided a crown of thorns, they put it on his head”
What do you say?
Keeping this image in mind, of the King who calls me a friend and who gave His life for me, who allowed Himself to be crushed, tormented and oppressed for me, who allowed this crown of thorns to be put on his head. Ah! Please look into His eyes! Look at His face and say to Him:
You gave your life in vain for me. Your sacrifice means nothing to me. I don’t want to follow you. I don’t like you, I don’t like all the restrictions you put on me. I don’t want to follow you. I don’t care that you gave your blood as a sacrifice for my sins. I don’t care that you died for me. I do not want you! I don’t want to hear about you anymore! I don’t want you in my life, leave me alone! I don’t want your friendship!
Are you surprised by the words above? These are your words, every time your mother calls you and you answer with “I don’t want to”, every time your father asks you to help him with something and you say to him: “leave me alone“, every time your mother says, “It’s not good to go there,” and you say, “I’m old now, I do what I want.” Ah! How much He would want to wash you with His blood; He wants you to find relief in His wounds. Do you want this?
Now you can give an answer, to the One who calls you a friend and who gave His life for you.
Forget everything! Do not hasten to return to your business, to your games, until you have brought all your sins to your friend.
Now say to the Lord: I want you! Cleanse my heart. I promise I will bring to the light all my sins. From now on I will obey your commands and my parents’. I want to be your friend!
Also, if you want to talk to someone, don’t forget, we are here for you!
I can’t wait to hear the answer to the questions I asked you. You can leave me your answer in the section below. 🙂
With joy,
Oana and the happy dwarfs,
