Easter Words - Adore, Agony, Alone

“Adore Him for His Agony Which He Suffered Alone” As we approach the most significant day of the year to the Christian, and deeply and meditatively look at the total picture of the price that was paid for our redemption, for our salvation, for our deliverance, and for our hope of eternal life. We must adore Him for this incomprehensible love of the Father toward us; what can we possibly do but fall on our faces before Him and just Adore Him for being willing to go through such Agony. He could have called tens of thousands of angels to deliver Him, but instead He endured the Agony that was set before Him and prophesied hundreds of years before - it was the Father’s will. Jesus knew before His ordeal began that one of His own apostles, His own family, the leaders of His church, and even some of his disciples (His followers), and His friends. He was alone! Webster’s definition of adore is “to worship, to bow down, to serve.” We say we adore, someone we admire and for whom we have great affection. Our feelings of admiration and caring may be very great toward another person, but if we have ever truly “fallen-in-love” with Jesus, we cannot truly adore another in the true sense of the word. When we consider and accept all the Father did for us through Jesus Christ, we are compelled to bow down our knee, our will, our desires, hopes and dreams, and our whole heart to Him and desire and seek how we can serve Him in spirit and in truth. We are compelled to adore Him by putting Christ first in our lives – to love Him with all our heart, soul and intellect (Mt. 22:37). We must not have anything before Him in our hearts, He must have first place. To adore Him we must keep our minds “fixed” on Him, and regard Him with our devotion (our love and loyalty). As we adore Him, our meditations, our words and our actions should intentionally bring honor to Him Who did so much for us. As the Christmas carol says, “O come let us adore Him!” If we could only realize the agony of the life and death of Jesus! Even before the crucifixion, Christ agonized over those who would not come to him for salvation, comfort, provision and peace, just like a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings. But His sobbing cry was “You would not” (Matt.23:37, 38). Who were these people who brought such agony of soul to their one and only hope for anything worthwhile in this life? They were the spiritually blind Pharisees, the soldiers who were just obeying orders, Pilate, the prideful church leaders; and even YOU AND I, at times!