Alone. Abandoned. Betrayed. Denied. Ridiculed. Mocked. Beaten. Convicted. Tortured. Struck. Paraded. Crucified.

    It’s nearly midnight and I sit with the first cool breezes of the evening whipping through the juniper and live oaks. The moon is nearly full. I am alone on the top of a 90 foot tall overlook. I sit at the foot of a solitary wooden cross, listening to the whoosh of the breezes and watching the gentle swaying of the cross in the moonlight.

    I am “by myself,” but I am not alone. I am not abandoned. I do not feel betrayed. After an hour of praise with God’s people, I am alone with my Savior, communing spirit to Spirit, confident of his presence and his care. Why? Because he chose to let himself be...

Alone. Abandoned. Betrayed. Denied. Ridiculed. Mocked. Beaten. Convicted. Tortured. Struck. Paraded. Crucified.

    More than a symbol of torture, the cross was a symbol of loneliness. It was a slow, agonizing, tortuous way to make an object lesson of a human being. Based on brutality and humiliation, crucifixion was a way to place a human being before the watching eyes of a morbid and mocking mob while keeping the victim isolated and alone. That’s how our Savior, Jesus, died...

Alone. Abandoned. Betrayed. Denied. Ridiculed. Mocked. Beaten. Convicted. Tortured. Struck. Paraded. Crucified.

We are not alone.

    “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he shouted, as the tidal wave of loneliness swept over him. While at times, we too may feel alone, forgotten, and unimportant, even when we are in the middle of a crowd, we aren’t. We are not alone. Jesus went to that place of loneliness and abandonment so we wouldn’t ever have to go there. He went there bearing our sin so that we could be God’s righteousness. He went there so that we would never have to be...

Alone. Abandoned. Betrayed. Denied. Ridiculed. Mocked. Beaten. Convicted. Tortured. Struck. Paraded. Crucified.

    How can I be so sure that I will never be abandoned?

    Just a simple word from the one who watched from a distance, who saw the water and blood come out of the Savior’s side, and later saw him raised from the dead (cf. John 19:33-35). That word reminds me, that far from being alone, I have a Friend, a Brother, who is at our Father’s side. He pleads my case and repeatedly offers his sacrifice to cleanse me:

We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1b-2)

    Jesus was willing to be...

Alone. Abandoned. Betrayed. Denied. Ridiculed. Mocked. Beaten. Convicted. Tortured. Struck. Paraded. Crucified.

Jesus did it so you and I can be confident that we never have to be...

Title: "Alone, For Me!"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: August 6, 2001

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