It is finished.[1]
Three little words that speak volumes.
I have thought a lot about these words over the past several weeks as I have had the privilege of spending time in conversation with several women healing from past abortion.
When you have done something so truly awful – like participating in the killing of your own unborn child – you absolutely yearn for absolution. For forgiveness.
So, you work really, really hard to be a good person. Or, you work very hard to deny the reality of what you did. You avoid all contact with the word itself. You don’t say ‘abortion’ out loud and feel your heart nearly stop when others talk about it. You are a mass (or a mess) of confused, tangled emotions. You are fearful – of God, of others. You are angry – so angry. You are sad. You wish with all that is in you that you could just go back and choose a different outcome. You wonder, ‘How could I have done this thing?’ and are filled with self-loathing as you realize what you are capable of.
Then, you hear the message of Easter: Jesus died for all our sins. He paid the price. ‘How can this be,” you ask yourself, ‘I don’t deserve forgiveness. Look at what I did!’
Stop right there.
Here is where you have to remember that He is God – we are not. We cannot truly understand the depths of His love or His thoughts. He loves us with abandon. He loves us without condition. He loves us so much that He did this for us. He did this so we can find our way back to Him. And, we cannot do one thing to earn it. So, stop your striving to be good enough. Rest in Him, trust Him, accept the amazing free gift of forgiveness and salvation because He is good and true and kind.His final words on the cross are the ultimate expression of love: It is finished. He could have said three other words we long to hear: I love you. In His infinite wisdom, however, He chose to end all speculation about how good is good enough with the strong statement He did utter. The truth is we never can be good enough, but He is. And, through His sacrifice we are made right and righteous before a holy God. We are welcomed into eternal life because of what Jesus did.Those three final words Jesus spoke free us to joyfully say three words back to Him: I surrender all.
My prayer for you this Easter is that you would say these words with meaning to Jesus and experience the freedom found only in Him.
With great love –
Kay
[1] See John 19:30
