I Will Take Care of It

By Bill Brandstatter     About two months ago, I had lunch with a friend of mine. We had not seen each other for a couple of years. There was a lot of catching up to do. I bought his lunch the last time he was here, so this time he said he would take care of mine. Long before this friend and I met, there was a lowly carpenter who was crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem. He did that to tell us “I will take care of that.”     Jesus took care of sin in our lives. Peter tells us that he bore our sins in his body on the tree. (1 Pet. 2:24) He shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. (Mt. 26:28) He took care of it for us. We know that Christians sin (1 Jn. 1:10); but He took care of it. I know that His blood continually cleanses me from my sins. (1 Jn. 1:7-9)     Jesus took care of life eternal for us. Jesus offers life beyond the grave. Just prior to raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, he told the sisters: “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me though he is dead, yet shall he live. (Jn. 11:25, 26) For the faithful child of God, death is the beginning of a new life where the “mortal puts on immortality.” Jesus took care of that for us when he arose from the dead.     Jesus took care of temptation for us. The Bible tells us that He was “In all points tempted like we are yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15) In Matthews’s account of the temptation of Jesus, we read of three temptations that face every one of us. Jesus was tempted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He handled these temptations by remembering what scripture said. The devil left him until a more opportune time.     Jesus took care of salvation for us. Paul tells us, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”. (Eph. 1:7) If not for His blood, we would still be in our sins. We are washed from our sins in His blood. (Rev. 1:5) When we are baptized, we are baptized into His death and come in contact with His blood. (Rom. 6:3)     Jesus will take care of these items, if we let him. He stated: “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. (Jn. 12:48) Let us permit Jesus to take care of it.

- Bill Brandstatter preaches for the Marion Church of Christ in Marion, IL. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://marionchurchofchrist.com/