He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, and there was nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain.  Isaiah 53:2-3
 
 

 Not attractive
 Jesus was not a superstar, rich, or popular growing up.  He was not an influencer, nor did he have any entertaining dance or songs. He was plain, no beauty.  Nothing in His appearance attracted people to him.  People would hide their faces from him.  Jesus was avoided, despised, rejected, and familiar with pain.  This description is found in Isaiah 53:1-3.
  
Shunned
This was my devotion this morning.  We have all seen people rejected because they did not fit our style.  We tend to walk the other way.  I was thinking about all the rejection Jesus received growing up.  He did not fit into most families.  Jesus was plain, no beauty.  We all see pictures and paintings of a manly man with chiseled features.  The scriptures state there was nothing in his appearance that attracted people.  It pains my heart to think about the creator being shunned.  Just the rejection Jesus experienced broke my heart.
 
 Innocent yet silent
 He was innocent of all sin, yet He took mine.  He did not speak about the unfairness of it all.  He just bore the punishment and the increasing pain. Pilot asked someone to stand up for Jesus, but no one would.  They were silent except for the lies and demands of his death.   Jesus knew why, even though he asked God to see if there was another path. His emotional pain was beyond anything man had experienced.  God was also…. silent.
 
God crushed his Son
 The Father of Jesus took all our sins from our desires and sinful attractions and laid them upon Jesus. No one stood up for Jesus, protested his treatment, or even noticed or cared. Jesus alone took our punishment and did not complain.
It was God’s will to crush Jesus and cause Him to suffer.  God and Jesus decided this plan before man was born.
Yet the pain, both physical and emotional, was laid upon Jesus.  Why?  For you and I.  For the world.
 
Finished – Righteousness for all!
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was like a sheep led to the slaughter.  No one protested.  Life went on around Him. Everyday life revolved around our suffering savior, unaware of the holy sacrifice that was taking place close by.  Jesus suffered alone, quietly.  Until He said, “IT IS FINISHED.”  Then, the curtain in the temple separating us from God was torn from top to bottom.  From God to man.  From Jesus for me.
 
Thank You Jesus
 Thank you, Jesus.  Oh, the Blood of Jesus, shed for me and you.  Oh, what a savior who died for me! Isaiah 53:12b: “Jesus bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressor.”
 I encourage you to read Isaiah 53 sometime today, letting your heart break into pieces and rejoice for our mighty savior’s sacrifice for you, for me, for all.
 
Let you, LightNSide, be forever grateful for His sacrifice.

Luke 22:31-32   “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”

Not everything can be accomplished quickly.  There is an illusion of quick answers, of drive-through solutions.  This frustration has turned many of us into watchers rather than warriors.  We find ourselves between times of focus and times of floundering.  We wonder when we stopped marching, too busy with life’s issues.

Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.

I have found myself existing ‘between the times’ of faithfully writing a weekly Biblical Devotion to rest with excuses and reasons why I gave the devotions up.  There have been issues in my family, from age to major medical problems I could point to, but in reality, I found myself living ‘between the times’ of duty and excuses.   I faithfully created a weekly Biblical Thought from  2018 to 2023 and began to slow down.  I was no longer faithfully writing devotions from my heart to whoever was listening.  This decline of obedience slowed me down to living in a world between the passion of ministry and a frustrated observer of time filled with guilt.

Maybe you are living “between the times” of launching a new ministry but wrestling with its unknowns and insecurities.  Maybe you are living between an uncomplicated marriage, and now a child is born with its fears, tears, and unknown futures. Perhaps you are at a setback in your life.  Pain and frustration have replaced passion. Perhaps you are lost in a time of struggling with faith, God, and desires.  You remember the strong and secure times, but now you are “living between”  faith and feelings,  strength and searching. 

I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.

Repent and turn again to Christ.

I am writing today for the first time in 2025. I am again taking up the challenge of this calling. The first thing I must do is repent to God.

Revelation 2:4-5 ” ⁴ Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. “

Nothing happens unless we take responsibility for our actions, even if we face valid issues. We must again become warriors and pilgrims, obedient servants who trust God and allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide us.

Strengthen your brothers

Monuments or Footprints

William Faulkner speaks of the place in our duty to God where we stopped moving forward.  That place where you last left your mark can become a monument or a footprint.   A monument only says, ‘At least I got this far,’ while a footprint says, ‘This is where I was when I moved again.’

I encourage you to once again take on the challenge of God’s calling. Break out of living ‘between the times’ of faith and frustration. Join me in repenting for the idle times and let that place I stopped become a footprint of renewed passion, not a monument to where I stopped.

Let your LightNSide shine in 2025 and forward.