Friday Prayer: Good Friday

Jesus, you died today. Not peacefully in old age but violently in prime of life. Not surrounded by loved ones but abandoned by friends. Not honored as hero but mocked as criminal. Not in comfortable bed but on brutal cross. You died in agony, darkness, and forsakenness. For me.

I don't know how to process what you endured. The physical torture - flogging, thorns, nails, crucifixion - was horrific enough. But the spiritual weight - bearing humanity's sin, experiencing Father's wrath, suffering separation from the One you'd been united with for eternity - that's beyond my comprehension. You experienced hell so I wouldn't have to.

Thank you feels inadequate, but thank you. Thank you for loving me enough to die for me. Thank you for paying the debt I couldn't pay. Thank you for taking the punishment I deserved. Thank you for opening access to the Father through your torn flesh. It is finished - help me believe that and live in the freedom your death purchased.