Abandoned

Abandoned. Rejected. Ignored. Overlooked.

We've all had those experiences.

A spouse leaves. A child turns his back. A friend doesn't write back. A neighbor moves away.

Depending on the length and the intimacy of the relationship, the pain can be deep.

But think of this:

When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"

God the Father and God the Son had had a perfect relationship for all of eternity. Not just a few decades.

And they had a perfect relationship. Holy. Without sin. Without suspicion. Without guilt. Without secrets.

Unlike any relationship that you or I will ever have.

But as Jesus hung on the cross, His eternally-loving Father forsook Him.

Why?

It wasn't because Jesus all of a sudden sinned and broke that relationship.

It was because of your sins.

As Jesus hung on the cross, He was bearing the sins of the world - which includes all of your sins and all of my sins.

The prophet Habbakkuk wrote, "You are too holy to gaze upon sin." God cannot even look at sin.

So, as His Son with whom He had had a perfect relationship for all of eternity, hung on the cross with all the sins of the world, God turned His back on Him.

The perfect eternal relationship was broken because of something you did.

But it was broken so that it could be restored. It was broken so that you and I could have a loving relationship with God the Father and God the Son.

Think of it this way: Their relationship was broken, so that we could be a part of that relationship!

We can have the love of the Father poured out on us because of what Jesus did.

Wow!