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A Prayer for Esteeming Jesus

     Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:1-3 (ESV)

Do you love me? John 21:16 (NIV)

     Dear Lord Jesus, Isaiah’s words rip at my heart this morning. I am freshly in awe of the love you have lavished on rebels, fools, and idolaters, like me. You, who never sinned, became sin for us, that in you, we might freely receive the very righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). By your crushing, we are now cherished; by your exile on the cross, we have citizenship in God’s heart; by your consummate wounding, we are becoming completely healthy; by your cruel death, we live forevermore.

     It’s precisely because of your great love for us that I feel deeply convicted this morning. I can’t get away from Isaiah’s words, “and we esteemed him not”—and I don’t want to move on quickly. Because of your grace, I grieve. The truth is, every time I sin, I esteem me more than I esteem you; and when I put it is those terms, sin has never seemed more ugly, empty, and foolish. There is simply no greater indictment against us than a lack of esteem for you, Lord Jesus.

     You made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. You redeemed us for yourself and you desire us as no one else ever could; yet we still look over your shoulder for other loves and other lovers. You’re coming back for us, with the passion of a Bridegroom for his new Bride; yet we remain shackled to lesser stories and smaller dreams.

     By your grace, Jesus, and by the power of your resurrection, refresh, renew and intensity my love for you. I want to esteem you above everything and everyone else, Jesus. You will never love me more; I want to love you so much more. So very Amen I pray, in your compassionate and all-worthy name.

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