i am loved.

Isaiah 53:2b-6

"He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men. a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteem Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all;" - NKJV version

i like how the Message Bible puts it too..

"There was nothing attractive about Him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at Him and people turned away, We looked down on Him, thought He was scum, but the fact is, it was our pains He carried, our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought He brought it upon Himself, that God was punishing Him for His own failures. But it was our sins that did that to Him, that ripped and tore and crushed Him-our sins! He took the punishment and that made us whole. Through His bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong on Him, on Him." - The Message

verse 10 - " Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush Him with pain. The plan was that He give Himself an offering for sin so that He'd see life come from it - life, life and more life, and God's plan will deeply prosper through Him." - The Message

verse 12b - " And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors."

Like wow God! Today i read this slowly, out loud even because something in my head told me to. I don't know if it was my voice or God's but it led me here. I've read this before but reading it again slowly made me see it's meaning so much more clearly.

"There is no beauty that we should desire Him." Reading this made me just be amazed. This guy, this is the Almighty God who created the heavens and the Earth, He made everything beautiful, yet when He came to Earth, taking the form of a mere human, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Talk about sacrifice! God who didn't have to, came down to Earth, to be in our shoes and when He did, He didn't even make Himself look handsome, which would already be way an understatement to how He really looks i'm sure, but no, there is no beauty. and through this i believe He is saying, i understand how you feel. and i am awestruck. God who created beauty would come to His creation without beauty.

"He is despised and rejected by men." Like back up, this is God that people are rejecting. and God knew this would happen when He came. He deifinitely doesn't deserve to be rejected or despised, much less whipped and crucified by the very people He lovingly created, knowing the number of hairs on each of their heads. Hebrews 4:15- "For we have no superhuman High Priest to whom our weaknesses are unintelligible, he himself has shared fully in all our experiences of temptation, except that He had hever sinned." This verse is like so true right now!

And i am profoundly touched, that God cared so much to come down to our level and see really how ugly we all are, and still love us so greatly. and when i think about my capability to love God and others, i am reminded that it all comes from God, who made us in His image. I'm just awestruck la really, and i can't explain this feeling of wow-ness.. Perhaps a good example of His undying, selfless love is

Luke 23:32-43
"There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. and when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said," Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do." and they divided his garments and cast lots. and the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneeres, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen one of God." And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself." And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed against Him, saying "If You are the Christ, save yourself and us." But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying " Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Lord Jesus," Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom." and Jesus said to him," Assuredly, I say to you, today, you will be with me in Paradise."

Let this be my prayer today and forevermore.
"No matter what the cost i will go for You, no matter what it takes, i'm Yours, because You paid the price at Calvary, i give You my whole life, i'm Yours. i'm Yours, Jesus i am Yours, i'm yours, Jesus i am yours, i'm yours, Jesus i am yours."

1 John 3:16- "We love Him because He first loved us." Thank You Lord Jesus, for everything.
AMEN.