By Anita Mondragon

 

Last night, as my youngest and I said our bedtime prayers, we went through the usual things in our prayers.  I got him into bed, and put myself to bed…started to drift off into slumber, and was awakened by a small hand on my shoulder gently shaking me.  A quiet voice whispered, “Mom…can we just thank God for all the good things He does for us?”  Well, that woke me up real fast I can tell you!  I said, “Of course son!  Good idea!”  

 

As he knelt next to my bed, we began to pray.  He started first, saying one thing he was thankful for, then I would say something that I was thankful for.  We both had a lot of ‘Thank You’s’ to say to the Lord.  At the end, I said, “Thank You for dying for us Jesus!”  Jojo then said something very profound for a twelve-year-old; he said, “Yes Lord!  Thank You!  You were innocent, but you took the blame and died for us anyway!”

 

We all know that Jesus was innocent…but how often do we remember this?  We go about saying our prayers….sometimes even our prayers of asking for salvation, but we fail to remember that Jesus was INNOCENT of any wrongdoing…but He took the blame for the sins of the world!

 

Most of us won’t take the blame for our failures and short-comings-even if we truly ARE to blame.  We make excuses, and try to justify ‘why’ we did what we did.  But Jesus took our guilt, even though He was innocent.  And…the Bible says when they accused Him, “He opened not His mouth, but He went as a sheep to the slaughter, and before His shearers as dumb (quiet).”  And in the end, as He hung on the cross, He asked God, His Father to “FORGIVE US”.

 

Next time we thank Jesus for dying for us, let’s not forget to thank Him for taking the blame and shedding His innocent blood to cover our sins!