I Don't Want To Get Over It!

Have you ever wondered about the origin of some of the bizarre phrases we use?  Phrases like "fair to middling."  Huh?  Or how about "no skin off my nose," which has been transformed over the years to include other body parts such as teeth and the back?  And what's up with "beating around the bush" or "barking up the wrong tree"?  Perhaps one day I'll write a book on these odd sayings and their origin, but for now, I want to focus on one that I thought of Sunday morning.

We had a guest preacher at church, and during the morning service, he preached a wonderful sermon based on Luke 8:49, which reads, While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.  The focus of the message was on the last phrase: "trouble not the Master."  Throughout the message, the preacher highlighted different problems of people in the Bible (Jairus' daughter, the woman with the issue of blood, the maniac of Gadara and so on) and explained how their problems were no trouble to the Master.  Their biggest plights weren't too difficult for the Lord to handle.  And at the end, he talked about how salvation and how when we cry out to the Lord to save us, no matter how bad we've been, He'll say, "It's no trouble."

At that point, my mind took its own trail (which it has a habit of doing), and I immediately thought of the phrase, "It's no skin off my back."  But before I could go any further, I was stopped short by an awful realization--that's not true.  While it is true that God can save anybody at anytime, my simplification of the entire process was seriously flawed.  Salvation did cost the skin off my Savior's back and so much more.  He was bruised, beaten, ridiculed and scorned.  He was rejected and abandoned, even by His own Father who couldn't bear to look at the sin Jesus bore on the cross.  My salvation cost Jesus His life, His fellowship with God and more than we could ever imagine or understand.  Yet, He did it willingly because of His great love for us.

It's easy to look at the greatness of God and think, Sure, He can do anything, so what's the big deal?  The big deal is that, while salvation is free to you and me, it costs Jesus everything.  It was a big deal.  Yes, He could do it.  Yes, He could bear the weight of our sin.  Yes, He's the almighty God.  But the big deal isn't that He could do it; it's that He did do it.  The big deal is that He looked into the future, saw what I would be and said, "Now, that's something worth dying for."

Oh, Lord, may I never get over the cross!


For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - John 3:16