Thinking of you.

    That's what Jesus was doing all the way to the Cross.  He was thinking of you and me.  He could have made so many other different choices that would have defeated evil.  But he chose the path that was all about you.  If he had chosen to have a legion of angels come and do in all the bad guys you and I would still be lost.  Should he have chosen to rid the earth of evil you and I would still be lost.  So, he chose to come to earth as a human, lived among us, and then we killed him.  Nice, huh!  Amazingly, he let us.  He let us kill him because he knew it was the only way we would have hope.  He was thinking of you.  He was thinking of me.  Jesus said some hard things while he was here on earth.  He challenged our way of thinking, seeing and even our very existence or being.  He challenged us to be something more, different and to make a difference.  He showed by example all that he wanted us to have in abundance.  He was thinking of me.  He was thinking of you.  That's what he did as he went through the betrayal.  Our betrayal.  That's what he did when he went through the flogging.  Our flogging.  That's what he did as he carried his cross.  Our cross.  That's what he was doing when he died on the cross.  Our death.  He took all of that because he was thinking of you.  His resurrection?  Yes, that too was his thinking of you.  Our resurrection. 
     You and I know we don't deserve mercy and grace.  They are a gift to us from Jesus because he was thinking of us.  So, why do we have such a difficult time with mercy and grace?  Why is it we can acknowledge mercy and grace but not receive them?  Is it because of our need to have earned them?  Is it because we don't like to be beholden to anyone for anything?  Is it because we don't know how to receive these gifts?  Maybe it's a part of all of them.  Mostly, it's because we need to surrender ourselves in order to let mercy and grace take their place in our lives.  He was thinking of us while we were thinking of ourselves.  He chose to give a gift to us in eternal life with him.  He chose to take care of all of our needs and many of our wants.  He provided us with blessing upon blessing...so much that we cannot contain them.  He chose to go above and beyond all of that by becoming our advocate before the Father.  His blood cleanses us from all sin.  He was thinking of you.  He was thinking of me.  When he was dying, when he was ascending into heaven and this very moment, he is thinking of you.  He was thinking of me.  We are constantly on his mind, in his heart and within his presence.  Why?  Because he was thinking of you.
     The world is obsessed with thinking of ourselves and to hell with everyone else.  But, we aren't to be part of the world.  We are called to be in the world but not of the world.  We are encouraged to love others and to exercise mercy and grace where it's not deserved...just like Jesus did.  The world wants to snuff out the voice of God.  It's plain in the agenda of everything non-Christian.  The media, groups, individuals and whomever can bend a listening ear wants us to invest in ourselves.  Take care of our own wants.  Give in to whatever pleasures we desire.  That's what the world wants, propagates and encourages.  The world rewards those who are contrary to the message and person of Jesus Christ.  Why is that?  Because they aren't thinking about you, for you, of you.  They are thinking of self, money and pleasure.  The sad fact is the world thinks of a temporary pleasure while eternity in heaven will be denied.  The world doesn't have your best interests at heart.  The world wants to and is destroying people around you and I.  What are we doing?  Are we thinking of them?  Are we doing something, anything, for Christ?  Who are you thinking of?