My predicament

I’m in a predicament. My father once told me that if I did anything wrong, my punishment would be death. But guess what. Even though I knew my punishment, I didn’t take it so seriously, so I stole a bag of chips from a sandwich shop.

Now, I’m caught by my father and he knows all that I did. Now I don’t understand my father fully, why he does the things he does, but I do know this: He is holy, just and loving. Since, he is truly holy, he allows no unholy or wicked children in his house. And since he is just, there must be punishment for my actions. But I got to say at last, he is loving. At this point, I don’t know where this fits in to my situation.

I’m thinking I have two options:
1) I can lie; I can deny it, and claim that I don’t have any punishment coming because I didn’t do anything.
or
2) I can tell the truth, ask for forgiveness, and accept a just punishment.

Hmmmm, what I am to do?

Even though I know there is a punishment for lying, it’s still so easy for me to lie about the whole thing, never take the responsibility, and try to get my way out of the situation.
Maybe my father doesn’t know the whole story. And lying about a little bag of chips isn’t so bad, anyways. Maybe I can escape punishment if I lie.

Now, as I am deciding what to do, a stranger comes to me and says, “Tell the truth, I know what you have done. Yet, I’ll sacrifice myself as payment for the punishment of you stealing the chips. All you have to do is tell the truth, be sorry for your mistake, and believe in me as your just payment.”

At this point, I wish I could undo my stealing of the chips, yet I know that I can’t. I can lie to this stranger and tell him, “Leave, because I am innocent.” Yet, the truth is the truth. It’s in my heart. Now, I am thinking about the seriousness of what I have done. Tears fall down my face because I know what’s done is done. My punishment is death! I weep because I know either I die, or this man will die as a payment for something that I did!

Why would this man pay my punishment for me? Why?

Then the man says, “Do not worry because I will overcome death, because I am a holy sacrifice. I will come back alive!”

I’m confused, and I still haven’t decided what to do. Lie about the whole situation, or tell the truth.

The man says, “I [tell] you that you [will] die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:23)

1) I can choose to lie about stealing the chips, claiming prideful innocence. Hey, I don’t need to pay for a punishment on something that I don’t admit to doing. Yet this man says if I lie, then I will die in my sin.

2) I can believe in the man, obey his instruction, tell the truth and he pays the penalty that I deserve.

I fall down to my knees and tell him, “I did it. I stole the bag of chips and I’m sorry for doing wrong. I don’t want to die, yet it is the just penalty for my action.”

And just before the man is to go pay for my punishment, I look into his eyes and realize that they are the eyes...

Wait I recognize his eyes…

They are the eyes of my very own father! I remember my father is not only just, but he is loving. Yes, as an act of love, my father is going to his death for my wrong actions.

As he walks up the hill to die for my wrong doings, he says…

“I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
“The truth will set you free.”(John 8:32)

I cry knowing my wrong doing led to my own father being nailed on a cross. My own action led to somebody dying.

As I mourn, the only peace in my heart is the love from my father.
...
Three days later, as I am weeping on my knees on a dirt road up from the place where my father died, I see a silhouette of a man walking toward me. The shadow nears my kneeling body. I look up and in the sunlight, I see a stranger.

“I told you so…” He grabs my hand.

It’s my father’s voice!

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“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar…” (1 John 1:8-10)

What peace it is to know that I didn’t have to pay the punishment I deserved. My own father did it for me. He loves me so much he has forgiven us through the sacrifice of Jesus.

This is the Love we share and the Love we enjoy during Easter!