“For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the more interesting things Jesus said was that if someone wants to follow Him, they must first develop the faith of a child. Only those with that kind of faith will find their way into His kingdom. What He meant by this was likely (there a pretty healthy debate on the matter) that we need the kind of innocent faith children have in their parents in order to be acceptable to Him. Giving Him this kind of trust is an incredible gift. In doing this, though, we aren’t initiating the gift giving process with Him. He gave first. On day 2 of camp, we talked about what God has given us and why they are such great gifts.

The first thing God gives us is Himself. All His other gifts follow from there. They are all variations of His first gift. God gives us Himself because He made us to be in a relationship with Him. Being in a relationship with another person requires this kind of self giving. As a result, God gives us a lot of Himself.

The best expression of Himself God gives is the gift of His Son, Jesus. In these verses from our worship service last night, the apostle Peter talks about just what an amazing gift Jesus really is. Let’s walk through this quickly.

For starters, Jesus never sinned. He gave us the gift of a perfect example to follow. Not a single decision He ever made was the wrong decision. He was never unloving. He was never unkind. He was never selfish. He never put Himself first over the people around Him. He never told a single lie. None of that. What’s more, He did all of this not merely in circumstances that were easy and pleasant. He did it in the face of suffering and abuse and persecution. The harder things got, the more His sterling character shined.

He didn’t do all of this just because He could. He did it to give us an example to follow. He was calling us to embrace God’s holiness. He was not, however, calling us to something He wasn’t willing to do Himself. He did it so we could see what the standard was. The standard for God’s kingdom is His perfect holiness at every point in our lives. Jesus demonstrated this so that we can too.

Our doing this is not something we can do on our own. We needed help dealing with our own sin before we can walk in God’s holiness. That’s where Peter goes next. Jesus endured all that He did, submitting Himself in humble obedience to God even to the point of death on a cross as, Paul wrote to the Philippian church, so that He could bear our sins in His body. He paid the price our sins demanded and He paid it with His own life. He made Himself a substitute for us.

He did this not only to pay the price for our sins, but so that we could live for righteousness. By His wounds we are made well and able to live up to the standards of God’s holiness. We don’t do this on our own, but in the strength He provides.

And here’s the most amazing thing of all: this wasn’t a gift we were looking to receive. We needed it. But we didn’t want it because our desires were broken just like the rest of us. We were like sheep who had cluelessly stayed away from our Shepherd. Our faithful Shepherd wasn’t content to see us lost, though. He came looking for us and did all of this to bring us back.

What a gift our God has given us! As our theme verse this week from John declares, what great love our Father has given us that we should be called His children—and we are! Spend some time today thanking God for the gift of His Son.