I am Barabbas

I am Barabbas. A sinner that deserves to be punished. There isn't enough time to list all the ways I've fallen short. And isn't that true for all of us? Many people think they need to get their live together before coming to the Lord. That life needs to look social media perfect. That in order to get even close to Him. To even utter a word to Him, we need to get our act together and clean up. But isn't the New Testament filled with imperfect people coming to Jesus IN their brokenness and sickness? When everyone else pushed away the unclean, hurt, sick, and broken, it was there that Jesus could be found. Not with the Pharisees who acted perfect, but with the desperate. No matter how successful or perfect life feels, let me never lose my desperation for Him. He doesn't qualify you to call you. He calls you to qualify you. He calls first, yes, even in our brokenness. We've all felt undeserving of HIs love and grace, but isn't that exactly what makes the Gospel so beautiful? It's the very fact that we are undeserving that defines it as grace and shows just how much He loves us. Just as Barabbas deserved and earned the cross Jesus bore, we deserved and earned our own cross. But just as Jesus was the substitute for Barabbas, Jesus is the substitute sacrifice for us. What love. What grace.

He asks for one thing, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). He wants us IN our brokenness, because it is in out weakness, His power is made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9). It's in our brokenness where our desperation is greatest and where we turn in our desperation determines where our hearts are. If we clean ourselves before turning to Him, we are trying to be God. The truth is that no matter how perfect we try to be, or how much we clean ourselves up, it will never be enough. He knew we needed Jesus. That's the only way we can be made right with Him. So many people say, "I'm too far gone," "The church will fall on me if I step foot in there," "I've done too many things wrong," etc. I think this is a bit of a pride issue. To think that we can be "too bad" for the Lord, the King of Kings to save. That Jesus' death is enough for everyone but me. The issue isn't if Jesus is enough. He is. The issue is, are you humble enough? Humble enough to lay down your pride and kneel in submission to Him? Are you desperate enough to admit you need saving and you need Jesus? That all you want is to be bridged back to your Heavenly Father?

Most people feel the tension of the gap that sin creates. Would you lay down your desires to choose the Bridge (Jesus) that's been made available to you? There's a loving, gracious Father who, for all eternity, has had a heart for the lost, broken, hurt, and sick. He's just waiting to give you that kind of embrace you feel after not seeing someone for a while. The kind that screams, "Welcome home." For whoever needs to hear it... come home. Lay down your pride. Jesus is enough. You aren't too far. The Bridge is still there. Come home.