Becky Crenshaw

The morning of Valentine’s Day, I sat in a prayer and worship service. My Bible open and journal out, I began scrolling to passages about love – being the day of love, of course. xoxo

But as the worship team began to sing, and the leader began to pray, I was taken off guard by the central focus of the morning.

I would have predicted praise songs centering the theme of love. “How deep the Father’s Love for us…” or maybe “Oh How He Loves Us” by Crowder.

But no. The anchor song of the morning was “Son of Suffering” and the focus passage Isaiah 53… the prophecy of Jesus’ death.

There I sat with my Bible open to 1 Corinthians 13 ready to sharpen my “love walk” but instead was brought to my knees in worship… by the most profound display of love imaginable. The Cross.

I was overwhelmed with love. Love from God. Love for God. Awe and wonder of this picture of His sacrificial love – to the point of death.

And in my chair I was gently convicted of how little time I meditate on this pivotal moment. The entirety of my faith hinges on this display of love towards me…. buried like a criminal. Put into a grave.

For me. Any you.

This. Is. Love.

But it’s not the end of the story. As you know. He didn’t stay there.

What a perfect way to spend Valentine’s Day. And everyday after. Worshiping the Son of suffering. Remembering, as Maverick City sings, “the holes in [His] hand, the wound in [His] side, the 39 nine lashes that brought me back to life….”

Today, I encourage you to look at Him.

Sit with Isaiah 53. Remember.

I’ve made a playlist of songs that solely focus on the Cross and what Jesus did for us. But my favorite would be this song Remember. Click on it to listen. Read the lyrics. Sit in awe.

And for easy reference, read this excerpt. Thank you, Jesus. This came true.

But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
⁸ Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
⁹ He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.

¹⁰ But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.

Isaiah 53: 5-10