The Heart of the Matter

 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.
 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.
 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.
                                                        Isaiah 53:5-7

These verses bring us to the heart of the Christian faith.  It is one of the echoes you hear over and over again throughout the Bible.  This passage tells us the key to salvation.  We all have sinned.  Not one of us is better than the next one of us.  We're all flawed.  We don't deserve salvation.  But Christ gave it to us anyway.  His punishment is our peace.  His wounds are our healing.

I don't understand it.  I don't understand why He had to die for me.  I don't understand why it took so long for me to come to Him.  I don't understand why at times I still struggle with His love for me.  I don't understand how Romans 3:23-24 can be true:  "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."  I just know that it is true. 

My mind is too feeble to understand everything about God.  I don't understand eternity, I don't understand creation, I don't understand so many things.  The more I know about Him, the more I am filled with wonder.  The more I know about Him, the more I know about me.  The more I know about Him, the more I want to know.  My mind can never be too filled with God.

There's a song by Don Henley called, "The Heart of the Matter."  It's really a woe is me, she left me kind of song.  But part of the chorus goes like this:

"The more I know, the less I understand.
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again.
I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak and my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness."

The heart of the matter of salvation is this:  Though we have gone astray, He purchased our freedom and offers it to us freely.  And it's really as simple as that.