Man of Constant Sorrow

I have been sad so many times. At one time in my life I might say I actually enjoyed being sad. You get attention or sympathy. Anymore, I don’t want attention. I want to live my life, tell other people about Jesus, have a family, build a house, maybe own a restaurant. I know by now that there are no guarantees of longevity or wealth. Lots of times it feels like I’m doing the wrong thing. I’m sitting comfortably watching the world go to hell.

I identify a lot with Isaiah’s words in chap. 53 v. 3. Jesus was a man of sorrows. Why? I can think of two reasons. First of all, people didn’t believe him. They didn’t believe the message, it had to be hard to believe at first. Jesus came in an era where people believed in all kinds of things. Many believed that their national leader was a god. To believe anything else was asking for trouble. He had an offensive message. He said there is only one way to God, Me. He said you on your own aren’t good enough. Who wants to hear that? He completely slapped tradition in the face! This got him further rejected. No wonder he was sad.

I think he’s sad with us, with me, when we don’t step up to the plate. We don’t fully believe. Even after believing for a long time. We believe it once, when we are young, then we get banged up a little and start to doubt it or walk away from Him altogether. I don’t doubt who He was or what He did, I believe in the proof. But I think he is sad that we don’t get out of the boat. We rowing down the river and passing drowning people. We have to jump in the water with them. The U.S. is the 3rd largest mission field in the world. The country that we refer to as a Christian nation, has millions who don’t know the gospel. Why don’t we talk more about the one thing that’s most important. Eternity is a long time, and you can’t change it after it’s been decided. Don’t wait until the last 5 years of your life to think it over. Put your faith and trust in Christ today.