Christmas Hope

My daughter and I made a special gift topper for Christmas this year to honor Jesus. I even blogged about it. As we were assembling the "what's in a candy cane?" informative note cards I stopped for a moment as I read one, it said, "by His stripes we are healed." I knew immediately what this verse meant and have read it countless times. A fleeting thought went through my head, 'you know healed means more than physical healing'.

Photo by: midiman

I put the thought aside and went about our chores, but through the last few days the same thought keeps hounding me.  I am sitting here in my curlers writing this because the impulse to write down what the heart of that verse is getting at seems too important not to share, especially because my thoughts can not seem to escape it.

I'll give a little background on the passage and verse to hopefully make the meaning clear. Isaiah 53 is the passage where this verse is first found. It is a beautiful prophetic passage stating what Jesus would fulfill as the Savior of mankind. Isaiah was written hundreds of years before Christ was born, which makes this passage even more amazing as we see Peter quote it in his writing with an understanding that Jesus fulfilled the description. (I Peter 2)

I suggest reading I Peter in entirety. He writes of suffering quite a bit. He writes of Christ suffering, and of the suffering of those that follow Christ. He says it is all worth it and he of all people would know, He witnessed Jesus' suffering first hand and went through suffering of his own.

With all this suffering it sure sounds like a downer to read, NOT SO! If you pay close attention the HOPE that is in Jesus shines through. Now I can state the most joyous truth of the verse, "by His stripes we are healed," It is a SPIRITUAL healing, a matter of our soul. Now read Isaiah 53 and take in what Jesus did for your soul, He sacrificed his own (verse 10) in your place. Sit on that for awhile.

No matter what you are going through, or may go through, KNOW that JESUS already made the way for our spiritual reconstruction and abiding in Him is the true cure for any ailment our soul may suffer.

(I find it funny, my family is battling physical sickness as I write this. I am rejoicing in my daily, ongoing spiritual health in Christ as our physical bodies are weak and frail)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!