January 14th, 2021

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

When I was young, my parents used to take me and my sisters to a little town on the east coast of Scotland each year on holiday. For seven consecutive years I splashed about in the sea and loved the feel of the sand under my feet. There was a park near to where we stayed. It had tall fir trees that generously shed their cones and these provided an abundance of ammunition for our fir cone fights. 

There was an old castle which had been turned into a museum. Since one of my sisters and I had made friends with the staff, we had the jaw dropping privilege of getting taken out onto the battlements one evening to lower the flag. We were taken down into the dark dungeons where suits of armour etc were stored. To a nine year old, that part was a little bit scary. We were practically given the run of the castle for two weeks each summer.And then there were our holiday friends, our unhealthy café lunches of pie, beans and chips followed later in the afternoon at times with ice cream.

I never willingly left that place. I harboured a longing that my parents would one day announce that we were leaving Glasgow and going to stay in my beloved holiday haven. As a child, it was my little bit of heaven on earth.

I have often pondered the sacrifice of our Saviour on leaving Heaven to rescue us from Hell. We read that;

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

​He lived as part of the Godhead in Heaven, one with the Father and the Spirit. He spoke creation into being, He watched the fall of man and he looked on as men continued on their downward spiral of destruction.

He knew the time was coming for Him to leave Heaven and ‘He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). And what’s more, He did it willingly. 

Friend, are you struggling to give something to Christ today that is dear to your heart? Are you trying to hold on to a childhood dream, a long held ambition?

​Could you now, quietly but willingly, approach Him and give Him what he is asking of you? You may not be given your dreams back but, in return he’ll give you His dreams. Christ was glad to make the great sacrifice that He did for us; you’ll never regret making that sacrifice for Him.

​
Pauline Ann Anderson