remission

In Remission.

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All of us have a deadly plague. A sickness that grips us tightly from first breath. It quickly metastasizes and spreads, infecting all that we are and everything we attempt. Our life, represented by a "dash" on our headstone, but doesn't quite expire at final breath. There is an ellipses at the end of our earthly story...an eternal existence immediately begins.

As I reflect on this day, Palm Sunday, I am met with the reality of the sickness that constantly stirs within my body. I am not cured. I will never be while on this earth. Neither will you, neither will they. From the tiniest of babes to the wisest of old men, we all suffer...we all need the remedy...we all need to embrace and accept the state of remission so readily available to us all.

...and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

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Trying to simply fathom the why displayed in the picture above is nothing short of completely humbling and exposing. It humbles me because I was thought of in that moment. It exposes me because I see my sin all over this picture. My sin put the Holy God there. The most despicable place ever fathomed. He went to Hell and back so I could choose NOT to go there myself.

So many of us will choose that path. So many of us have and will and will continue to reject the state of remission only He can offer us.

Am I cured of my sickness? None of us that accept the state of remission will ever be cured on earth. The plague of sin runs so deep it's not uncommon to witness one who has been given the gift of remission and assume the opposite about him. Sin entrenches us. It steals our joy and keeps us from moving forward. It ensnares and grips us so tightly that, at times, we feel no other option than to succumb to it's wiles and we remain fixed in it's gaze.

The difference between those who remain engulfed in their disease and myself is that I have acquired the antivenin. I have a way out of the traps and snatches of it's grip. And I will forever be saved from the ultimate penalty it promises to all....death. Eternal death.

And so on this Palm Sunday, I am reminded of a man, a God man, that willingly rode a humble donkey into the city of Jerusalem over two millennia ago. He went into that city feeling the love and cheers of those who came to know Him on earth. He came knowing that these very ones who praised Him on that day He travelled thru that city, that their acceptance would turn to rejection in a matter of days. He knew His last week was upon Him.

He knew He was here to pour out all of His blood with you on His heart. He knew the burden of sin put upon Him would be worse than the scourging and crucifixion He would receive. We murdered Him. You murdered Him. And He has your remedy. He holds your remission. He doesn't force you to take it. He won't. You have the choice.

I choose the remedy. Sin will never win me at last breath. My dash represents my remission and my ellipses represents the cure, the victory, no longer in remission.

What about you?