Taking it for granted

Written by

Christopher Mentzer

I had the opportunity a while back to play a computer called “The Sims”. It’s an interactive game in which you control the everyday lives of these people. Everything they do from giving them a job, to providing housing, entertainment and making friends you have to decide for them. After playing for a while, I noticed that I also had to tell them when to use the bathroom, shower, eat a meal and clean up after themselves. Now this may sound like these people are stupid, but as I mentioned at the start you control these people’s lives.

Sometimes we take for granted the little things in life; eating, cleaning up and showering. That’s because we are taught when we are young to do these things so we don’t have to spend a lot of thought process on it. It just becomes natural to us.

When Jesus was crucified on the cross for our sins, we sometimes take that for granted. Why? Because the scriptures do not go into detail of his crucifixion. Let’s look at the verses from all four gospels and see what they say:

MT 27:35 “And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots”

MK 15:25 “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.”

LK 23:33 “And when they came unto the place which is called

The Skull, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.”

JN 19:18 “where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.”

In 1 Peter 3:18 the apostle writes, “Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” We are told that He suffered but how much. Is it important to know how much? Not really, but sometimes if you don’t know how much He suffered you may not understand the real value of His sacrifice.

For that we have to go outside the scriptures and look at the history and how people were crucified on the cross. I won’t go into a lot of detail here but I can point out a website which can give you information on the crucifixion: http://www.frugalsites.net/jesus/

After going through this information they had provided, I had a new and complete understanding of what Jesus went through so we, as Christians, do not. It’s very difficult to take His death on the cross for granted when you see the examples of the flogging and the nails piercing the body. This is what we should be thinking about when we prepare our minds for the Lord’s Supper. To reflect what all was done to one innocent man so that thousands of sinners might know salvation through the blood that was shed (Matt. 26:28; 1 John 1:7).