I witnessed a great fall!
As I’ve written before in this blog, Sarah and I were blessed with this amazing trip to Ireland last year. One of the great tourist destinations is the Cliffs of Moher, in County Clair.
These cliffs reach a height of over 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. It’s amazing picturesque views have been featured on movies like “The Princess Bride” and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” This is where I witnessed the great fall.
It’s rumored that the cliffs claim about 12 lives a year, people who fall to their deaths because they stand too close to the edge. And I have to say, I can see why. While we were there people laid on their stomachs as close to the edge as possible to catch a pic on their phones and cameras.
At some point in our Cliffs of Moher visit I had enough of the daredevils hanging off the edge of the cliffs (I have fear of heights issues) so I went inside and sat in the café. While there a group of teenage girls caught my attention because they were laughing at and mocking the youngest of the group. One of the girls seemed to have brought her little sister, a girl no older than 9. So this older sister proceeded to bully this poor little girl for laughs. Eventually they left this little girl there alone and she buried her face in the table and wept. I was feeling both angry and sad at the same time. I felt that justice of some sort needed to be served to these girls (I have justice issues as well). Soon the little girl’s father arrived and asked her why she was crying. She refused to look up. He rubbed her bright red hair and whispered kind words to her. She finally looked up and in between the tears she cried in this thick Irish accent, “I don’t know why she’s so mean to me. I love my sister!” Those words broke my heart. “Where is this sister?! She needs to be dealt with,” I thought to myself.
As we left for the day and walked to our vehicle I noticed a teenage girl running on this long, 3 foot tall, brick fence that was to my left. As she ran her foot missed the fence and she went down so fast that she could stop her fall with her hands. She caught her fall with her face. She quickly looked at me in embarrassment and as I looked at her and recognized her. he was the older sister! Justice served, payback Cliffs of Moher style! The Cliffs weren’t putting up with that craziness.
Our view of God is often like my view of the cliffs that day. We believe in the “payback God.” He’s in heaven waiting to trip us so we can fall on our face. Why? He’s just getting back at us for something we did earlier. He’s the “Punishment God.” He’s the “Lightning Bolt God,” ready to zap us. But here’s the deal, if I’m IN CHRIST the punishment that I deserve was placed on HIM on the cross: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6
It’s the Substitutional Work of Jesus. He took my place. All my sin was placed on Him. All my punishment was placed on Him. And what do I get? All His life and all his “rightness.” Now when God sees me, He no longer sees all that’s wrong with me but all that’s right with Jesus.
I deserve to eat it, face planting for a lot of the bad stuff I’ve done. But when I’m IN CHRIST I don’t get what I deserve.
(Special Note: God doesn’t punish His children but He does discipline them in love as an good parent would do)
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