“Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
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Did Jesus Christ not foil and slay evil by letting all the waves and billows of its horrid sea break upon him, spend their rage, fall defeated, and cease? Verily, he made atonement! God sacrificed his own son to us; there was no way else of getting the gift of himself into our hearts. Jesus sacrificed himself to his father and the children to bring them together—all the love on the side of theFather and the Son, all the selfishness on the side of the children. If the joy that alone makes life worth living, the joy that God is such as Christ, be a true thing in my heart, how can I but believe in the atonement of Jesus Christ? I believe it heartily, as God means it. And I believe in it as the power that brings about a making-up for any wrong done by man to man. Who that believes in Jesus does not long to atone to his brother for the injury he has done him? Who is the causer, the creator of the repentance, of the passion that restores fourfold? Jesus, our propitiation, our atonement. He could not do it without us, but he leads us up to the Father’s knee: he makes us make atonement. Learning Christ, we are not only sorry for what we have done wrong, we not only turn from it and hate it, we are able to offer our whole being to God to whom by deepest right it belongs. Have I failed in love to my neighbor? Shall I not now love him with an infinitely better love than was possible to me before? That I can and will make atonement, thanks be to him who is my atonement, my life, my joy, my lord, my owner, the perfecter of my being. I dare not say with Paul that I am the slave of Christ; but my highest aspiration is to be the slave of Christ.
Commentary
by James House
As our creator, God owes us everything we need.
As our Father, he has offered us all that we need - and more.
He has provided the means for laying hold upon it all: Jesus Christ.
And has even given us the desire, nigh unto (but never becoming) compulsion, to do so.
Christ's Atonement and Grace give us the opportunity to enjoy God's presence in greater measure each day.
He is the perfect embodiment of Justice and Mercy: Love.
“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. ”