Last night a wrote a whole blog post in my head - it was great! Eloquent, precise, meaningful. All those things. It's gone now.
In this world today we have many opportunities to live vicariously. We can experience love, romance, violence, revenge, loss, grief, travel, sports, excitement - Oh so many things! Whether or not this is a good thing, I don't know.
It's a bit scary, really, to think of the experiences that any person, young or old, can participate in through movies, computer games and the Internet. It makes me wonder if we are not careful enough with what we allow even ourselves to experience. We don't need to take on (as our own) the romance of a friend's relationship, the pain of someone else's broken marriage, the loss of someone else's loved one, or even the joy of someone else's happy event.
There is one experience that is the ultimate vicarious experience that is ours for the taking - Christ's death on the Cross. Jesus died once for all. Hebrews 7.27 says Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
The death of Christ on the Cross was a legal action. Jesus took the punishment that we are required to experience. He was our substitute. The payment for our sin is paid. All we have to do is believe it.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
In this world today we have many opportunities to live vicariously. We can experience love, romance, violence, revenge, loss, grief, travel, sports, excitement - Oh so many things! Whether or not this is a good thing, I don't know.
It's a bit scary, really, to think of the experiences that any person, young or old, can participate in through movies, computer games and the Internet. It makes me wonder if we are not careful enough with what we allow even ourselves to experience. We don't need to take on (as our own) the romance of a friend's relationship, the pain of someone else's broken marriage, the loss of someone else's loved one, or even the joy of someone else's happy event.
There is one experience that is the ultimate vicarious experience that is ours for the taking - Christ's death on the Cross. Jesus died once for all. Hebrews 7.27 says Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
The death of Christ on the Cross was a legal action. Jesus took the punishment that we are required to experience. He was our substitute. The payment for our sin is paid. All we have to do is believe it.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
And, that's all I have to say about that. (For now.)
2 comments:
Hmm, don't know if I agree with this comment: "We don't need to take on (as our own) the romance of a friend's relationship, the pain of someone else's broken marriage, the loss of someone else's loved one, or even the joy of someone else's happy event."
If sympathy didn't come naturally to so many people, we'd probably be a lot more unkind than we are. And the Bible tells us to laugh and cry with others... (Annelise)
I'm not talking about sympathy or empathy, I'm talking about living as if other people's feelings, emotions are actually our own and not actually having our own.
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