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What If It Were You?
by Anna Wood Imagine just for a moment that you have been convicted of a crime for which you know that you are not guilty and yet, as punishment, you must endure repeated beatings; public nudity; a public whipping that will leave you near death; other tortures designed to weaken, hurt and humiliate you; endure a night and a day of no sleep, no food, no water; go through both mental and physical torture by trained men who delight in hurting you; and, ultimately, die by crucifixion--the most horrendous death ever devised by man.now, suppose for just a minute, that, while the above is all true, and you are condemned to endure it, imagine that you hold within you the power to free yourself of it allyou control your destiny. You, even though you are sentenced to be tortured to death, have the power to escape itwhat would you do? How long could you endure? What shame would you be willing to suffer, if you didn't have to suffer any shame at all? What public humiliation would you endure by being laughed at, mocked, spat upon, stripped, beaten, made fun of? How long could you endure a whipping that had left men dying, their bodies tore to shreds, with their guts exposed? How long could you hang by your own weight--suspended by three nails that tore your flesh and sent blinding pain down your arms and up your legs? How long could you endure on the cross, possibly nude, or, at the very least, with only the groin covered, dehydrated, body on fire from the pain, slowly suffocating, shivering in the cool spring air (John 18: 18 records that it was cold) that buffeted your wounded and naked (or nearly so) body? What if you were doing it on behalf of others who had no hope without you? Could you do it? WOULD you do it? What if you knew you could call angels, 12 legions of them, thousands of them, to release you and stop all of the insanity and prove, once and for all, just who you really were? What if, you could do all of thisfree yourself, stop the pain, go back home to God--Your Father--but, in doing so, someone else would have to die? Or, as in the case of Jesus, not just one person would have to die if you chose to save yourselfbut every single person who had ever lived, or would ever live, would be doomed to deathnot only physical, but spiritual, not only now, but for all eternitywhat would you do, if you could save yourself but not the worldor, if you could save the world, but not yourself? Anna Wood is a Christian wife, mother of 9 children, homeschooler and writer. Her desire is to know, love, and obey God and bring Him glory and help others to do the same. Her website is called The Apples of Gold and is at http://theapplesofgold.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |