This week in my New Testament class we have been focusing on the Crucifixion of Christ. It is a topic that I hold near and dear to my heart and have felt the spirit so strongly as we have discussed it in class. My comprehension of the infinite love that Christ has for each and every one of us on such an individual bases has been magnified as I have come to more fully understand the intensity of the suffering that Christ went through. Our discussions in class have given me a desire to love deeper, forgive faster, and serve more freely during this Christmas season to show Christ that I am truly grateful for his example.
Our professor, Brother Griffin mentioned a section from the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis that had a profound impact on me. Screwtape is a devil and is training his apprentice the most effective way to temp humans and gain control of them. He explains to them that humans go through up and down cycles where life is good and then life is hard and the most detrimental thing that can happen is if a human is in a hard time and they are not receiving direct answers from God, but they choose to be obedient anyway. This touched me so much because it clarified in my mind the importance of having hope and faith. As we move forward trusting in God that his plan is greater than ours, even when it is so unclear to us, we shake the devil off our backs and grow into true disciples of Christ. The blessings always come and the sun always shines if we keep pressing forward.
As I read in Matthew 27 I could help but get inside the head of Pilot and understand what he was thinking and feeling. He knew that Christ was the Son of God, yet because of his own fear and pride, he did not stand up for what he knew to be right. In Matthew 27: 24 it states, "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: ye to it." As I read this I had the desire to never be like Pilot, where I know for a surety that Christ lives, but I deny his teaching by my simple actions everyday because of a desire to please the world.
I know that Christ lives and that he loves me and that his atonement is infinite. He has already paid the price, it is up to me to accept it.
