The founder of the Persian Empire was Cyrus. It was written that he once captured a prince and his family. When they were brought before him, the monarch asked the prince, "What will you give me if I were to release you?"
"I'll give half of my wealth!" the prince replied.
"And if I release your children?"
The prince responded, "Everything I possess!"
"And if I release your wife?"
"Your Majesty", humbly spoke the prince, "I will give myself!"
Cyrus was so moved by his devotion and attitude that he freed them all. As the prince and his family returned to their homeland, the prince said to his wife, "Wasn't Cyrus a handsome man?" With a look of gratitude and deep love for her husband, she said to him, "I didn't notice. I could only keep my eyes on you - the one who was willing to give himself for me!"
This story and there are others similar are good reading but the point is what moved the heart of the people above anything else around. The death of Jesus should move each of us with love as we realize He is our substitute and sin bearer. You didn't bear your own sins. You didn't forgive yourself. You didn't bring life into your spiritually dead body. You didn't raise yourself to newness of life. Everything we are and have is the result of Jesus dying in our place and raising for our acquittal.
Our lives are completely dependent on Jesus and Him crucified. Why do we look in so many places for strength and stability? Why do we play all the mind games to give us a positive day? "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb. 12:2) Jesus looked only one place because of the joy that was before Him. What about us? Where are you fixing your eyes? That alone will determine if we grow and move forward or sit stuck and slowly drifting backward.
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