I got the punchbowl set when my son was about 4. I was over the moon. There were precious few items that captivated me so. Stunningly beautiful, this green Venetian-glass work of art had a gold overlay and delicate enamel flowers. It consisted of a bowl that looked more like a tureen with a lid, a ladle with gold filagree on the handle, and ten delicate gold-handled cups. Shortly after I was given this heirloom gift, I had some people at my house and was showing off my new treasure. I was telling the story of where this masterpiece had come from and what it represented (see Part 1 of this blog Treasures Pt. 1 – Resurgence Leadership Foundation (resurgencelf.com)). Just then, my boy came tearing into the kitchen, hit my hand just so, and one of the cups sailed out of my hand, crashed into the counter, then finished with a loud crash on the floor. There was a moment of dead silence. My heart tore as I watched the crash unfold in slow motion. Then I glanced at my son. The look on his face finished off my heart as it shattered much like the cup had. I could read his face better than any book I had ever read. It was a combination of terror and sadness, but there was a soulful component to it that was unmistakable. He knew how valuable that cup was to me. I had let him hold it “gently” when I got it and told him about how it was a legacy piece that his great-grandmother, “Tea Party”, or “Party” for short, had entrusted to me. Now, as he looked at me, Jesus let me hear my son’s heart say, “She isn’t gonna love me anymore!” The cup, at that point, lost all its value to me as I scooped up my son, my true treasure, in my arms and held him tight as he began to sob. “I’m sorry I’m sorry!” he said. “Your pwetty Party cup!” Choking down my own sobs I told him that that old cup wasn’t what was important. It was Party’s love for Jesus and her leading us to lean on Him was the special part. Nothing could take that away – not even a little broken glass! And no glass would EVER be more important than he is in my world! It took a while to convince him, and I became ashamed of the fact that I had made such a big deal about the glass that he felt I loved it more than him.
What Jesus taught me in that heart-wrenching moment was this: we are the most important thing to Jesus! We are so important to Him that He threw aside the thought of His pain, and willingly gave His flesh to be broken. It was the only way for Him to hold us close to Him forever. So, He suffered the agony, all for me. And for you. And for everyone. “Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
Our sin would keep us from eternity with our perfect Lord, so it makes payment for that sin necessary. Jesus’s blood redeems us from sin’s penalty. When we give our lives to Him and follow Him for the rest of our days, He scoops us up and covers our sins with the blood of His sacrifice, thus assuring us that we will be in His presence from that moment on – until forever.
I would love to say that I have never placed an inordinate amount of value on a material thing again. But His blood covers that sin too. “The death He died, He died to sin once for all” (Romans 6:10).
During this Lenten season, we ought to reflect on the physical, emotional, and spiritual brokenness He willingly endured for each of us! Oh, what love that sacrifice portrays! Don’t let it be in vain. If you have been putting Jesus off as He pursues you, turn to look into your Savior’s face. You will see that NOTHING is more important to Him than a relationship with you. For that, He gave it all!
