Scripture

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.”

~Matthew 11:28, ISV

Quote

Of all our miseries, sin is the greatest, and while you look upon it as such, Christ will look upon it as such also.

~Thomas Goodwin

Before I picked up Ortlunds book {Gentle and Lowly} which features the writing of three puritans: Thomas Goodwin, John Owens and John Bunyan, I understood that Christ feels the weight of our sin more than we do. He sees them more clearly. He is familiar with our frame. The guilt and shame He bore at Calvary is totally unimaginable for any human being. He being perfectly holy, made his agony and suffering the greater. Sin does not bother and evil man, but it will vex a righteous man. The better the man, the greater the misery of our sinful state. If your sin doesn’t bother you, something is wrong. Conversely, the more godly we become the more the sin in us and around us will cause us grief. The ungodly do not care. Sin and the hurt and misery it brings upon others does not affect them–they are indifferent. Ortlund says, “The purer the heart, the more horrified we are at evil and also the purer of heart the more were are drawn out to help, and to relieve, and to comfort the hurting.”

What is new to me is the teaching of these puritans that Christ is drawn to our sin and suffering. He came to save us from the dreadful consequences of sin. Yes He is pure and holy, and He hates sin, but He doesn’t hate us. He hates what sin is doing to us. June supports St. Judes and so do I. One of their commercials is the testimony of a parent. The man says, “The worse news is not that you have cancer. The worse news is that your child has cancer.” St. Jude’s is full of children battling cancer and with these children are hurting parents–mothers and fathers. Every single one of them hates cancer, but they do not hate their child that is suffering because of this dreadful disease. Christ is drawn to the sinner and all His anger is turned upon our sin which causes us ruin and misery. His compassion is increased by our need.

If you have more than one child, which one do you favor? You favor the one that needs you most at the time. You favor the one who is suffering the most. It is your love that draws you to that hurting child. In some cases, it is their own rebellion that is causing the suffering, but no matter what the cause, you want to save them from the suffering. It is the heart of a parent. Think about it, if we being evil are drawn to our hurting children, how much more is Jesus draw to those who suffer from diease or sin? Jesus and I are in total agreement about my sin: we both hate it, but thank God Jesus does not hate me.

Extra

I got mixed up on Monday and didn’t post and when I did post on Tuesday, the Extra was for Monday. I am trying to get where I can post from the house. We are going to try to do this today.

Hope you get it!