Do you see him?

Imagine the face of your best friend.
Do you see them?
That quirky smile, the funny way their nose crinkles when they laugh.
Do you see them?

Now think about how you feel about them.
Can you feel the love you have for them in the deep in your soul?
Don't read the rest of this until you do.

Now imagine a soldier coming to your friend and beating them across the face.
Their teeth crunch, their skin splits across their cheek, hot, wet blood pulses out with each heartbeat.
Do you see them?
A group of soldiers brutally beats them.
Fists rain down so quickly, it's impossible to distingush one blow from the other.
Their head pounds, blood flows from their mouth, their nose.
Do you see them?

Led into a public square, your friend is whipped.
The whip slices through the air and tears the flesh off his back.
Slicing with knife-like accuracy, the whip tears his back into the pattern of an overused cutting board.
Do you see him?

Do you see him? Becasue he is doing this for you.
You, I, deserved to be there.
But instead our friend takes our place.
Do you see him?

Laid on a slab of coarse wood, a heavy nail is hammered between his bones.
The muscle and tendons beneath part and break.
The screams of pain and agony are heard far from this place of unbearable torture.
Do you see HIM?

Oftentimes, we hear the story of the suffering and death of Jesus that we can forget what it means. We know something so well, we stop understanding. Our ears grow deaf, our hearts numb. God gave me this picture last night as I was praying, reminding me, refreshing me, opening my mind and heart to understand the pain and suffering that our best friend, Jesus, did so that we could find freedom. So that we would not suffer as He did. Don't let your mind forget, don't let you heart lose the realness of what He did.