"i could never believe in God, if it were not for the cross...in the real world of pain, how could one worship a god who was immune to it? i have entered many buddhist temples in different asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. but each time after a while i have to turn away. and in imagination i have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. that is the God for me! He laid aside His immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. our sufferings become more manageable in light of this."
~john stott, the cross of Christ
this christmas, if you're not quite feeling the "holly jolly" part of the season, remember this. Jesus wasn't born a baby buddha, detached from the suffering and sin and thorns and pain all around Him. He came to take it, to bear it on His shoulders. He lived a hard, tempted, painful life and became "a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." He became sin so that WE might become the righteousness of God.
this is the God for me.
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