Don't Tap Out!!!!!!

As I sit here and think back on the events of yesterday and over my life, I can not help but to be thankful.  I mean, seriously, what would you have done, being wrongfully convicted of a crime you did not commit, then being beaten, spit on, disrespected, what would you have done?  When would you have tapped out.  For me it would have been with the Roman Cat-of-Nine-Tails would have made me tap out!

I think for me I could have taken pretty much anything else, except for that.  Now don't think I am a punk, cause let me tell you a little bit about this.The first thing you need to understand about Roman scourging whips is -- these whips were used primarily as torture instruments to extract information. I quote from the roman historian Livy: "The Romans employed scourging as torture or punishment to extract information or testimony." "Romans inflicted scourging on recalcitrant slaves or prisoners for withholding information and on criminals condemned to death by crucifixion." If the victim did not tell the Romans what they believed to be true -- the scourging continued. There seems to be no limit to how many lashes the Romans could give. Therefore it is not known whether the number of lashes given Jesus was limited to 39, in accordance with Jewish law.  Since that was the norm, it should not surprise you to learn that "sometimes the victim died before the scourging was finished. Scourging sometimes lead to the death of the condemned person."

All Roman scourging whips had either glass, nails or jagged sheep bone embedded in various size lead tips (the cutting tips need to be embedded into at least acorn size lead tips in order to do the kind of damage described in the historical record).  A Roman flagrum had from as few as 3, to as many as 12 leather straps.  In other words this thing was designed to beat you, and tear the very flesh away from yours bones in order to have you tap out, and give in to what they required of you.

So I ask you this, do you think that anything God has ever asked you to do has been or will ever be more to bare then this?  Really puts things in a better perspective, cause you see, for Jesus, he had options, just like you and me.  He could have told God no from the beginning, he could have hid out, he could have made excuses, he even had the option he could have commanded the angels to come save him, he even could have spoke a word over it and made it change, but for you an I he did not. Jesus said "No man takes my life from me. I lay it down myself. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again!" (John 10:18) Do you think He was lying? After Peter cut off a temple guard's ear trying to resist Jesus' arrest, Jesus commanded him to "put away your sword" and then explained with just one simple question, "don't you know I could call twelve legions of angels?" as he puts the guys ear back on! Do you think Jesus was exaggerating or lying about his legions of angels? Matt. 26:52-53 (Jesus did many incredible things like that all the time -- walk on water, curse trees and have them dry up, raise the dead three times, etc.) Even Jesus' enemies did not debate about whether Jesus could do miraculous things. They saw him put the guard's ear back on as well as give sight to a man they knew had been blind from birth!

In other words, what ever you are facing what ever you are dealing with, God has taking the sting out of it, and the pain that you think you feel, pales in comparison to what Jesus took for you.  Don't tap out, fight the God fight, and watch God bless you in the process by making you a blessing.