Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
This passage of scripture teaches us the important lesson that our salvation was a very costly matter, as was manifested on Calvary. God could not just forgive us of our sins without the wages of sin being paid, and so the Lamb of God, even Christ, had to suffer the most painful and gruesome death in order that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. The nails that pierced Christ's hands and feet did not cause Him to die, it was when God laid the sins of the world upon Him that His life was crushed out.
Many people do not understand or some do not know that a tremendous sacrifice was made for them, and so they live their lives not cognizant of the real"Cost of living". When family and friends are invited over for dinner, the food is free to the invitees, but the host must bear the brunt of the cost. The same is true of our salvation. It is free to us, the "Invitees" but it was very costly to the host, Jesus Christ, and so in all of our understandings or misunderstandings of the various intricacies of the plan of salvation, God wants us to remember this one thing, that the ultimate and highest price was paid for our freedom and therefore, because of this sacred truth, every human being is permanently indebted to God for his great kindness towards us.
This debt can never be repaid, but what we can do is to surrender our lives completely to God, so that His purpose in saving us from sin can be materialized through the inner workings of The Holy Ghost in our hearts. This is all we can do and this is all God requires of us, and so it is left with us to have God's great salvation make sense in our individual lives, by choosing to serve Him with undivided hearts.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture which reminds us of our reasonable duty to respond in the affirmative to the sacrifice that was made for our redemption. Let's read:
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We sincerely hope and trust that today will be a day of new beginnings, for God is ready and waiting, for us to invite Him into our hearts, so that the work of salvation may continue to completion, in the lives of all who appreciate and accept His great sacrifice. God bless!