Bible Study for Christian Women and Pastors Wives - I am Looking to God, Part 4

Bible Study for Christian Women and Pastors Wives - I am Looking to God, Part 4
     "Looking unto Jesus The Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."  Hebrews 12:2 
     Shame!
    After seeing a first cousin (five months younger than I am) at a family reunion this past Sunday that I had not seen for two years, I remembered a time of shame when I was about seven or eight. She and I went for a walk at her house - our family was there on vacation. Maybe we were told not to cross the street; maybe not specifically at that time. I don't remember.
     Regardless, about fifteen or twenty minutes later, my daddy caught up with us. He was furious - probably fearing for the safety of his baby girl crossing not one street (We did look both ways!), but multiple streets.
     He helped himself to a handful of very-tall-ready-to-be-baled hay growing wild by the side of the road and switched my bare legs all the way home. My cousin got her due punishment after we got back to her house.
     I literally sobbed for hours in embarrassment and shame!
    But, that was nothing of the shame my Lord Jesus Christ bore. Besides, I deserved it. He didn't. The account in Matthew 27 is pretty gruesome. No wonder Jesus despised the shame:
              *He was beaten
              *Stripped of His clothes
              *Abused every way possible by Roman soldiers
              *Mocked
              *Beard jerked out
              *Wore a crown of thorns that was shoved down as hard as possible
              *Spat on
              *Crucified - probably naked
      But, He endured it while despising it, because He desired eternal fellowship with me. 1 Corinthians 1:9 "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 
      I was called. You were called!

Be blessed in The Name above every name, Jesus! I know I am!
Linda L Culbreth