Rejoicing, Despite the Cost

In the hymn Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd, the second half of the second verse reads "See, the Good Shepherd is seeking, Seeking the lambs that are lost, Bringing them in with rejoicing, Saved at such infinite cost." When I sang this hymn the other day, it reminded me that Jesus rejoices when we repent, despite, or perhaps in part because of, the infinite cost He had to pay to make it possible.

I imagine that the whole human condition, of growth and setbacks, of sin and repentance, must be bittersweet to Him. On the one hand, it must be encouraging to see us progress, but on the other hand, it must hurt to watch us struggle. On one hand, He loves to help us become clean of our sins, but on the other hand, we caused Him a great deal of pain when we committed those sins.

Yet, it seems that Jesus focuses more on the positive side than on the negative side. He loves it when we repent, even though He had to experience great pain to make that repentance possible. In fact, that suffering He experienced might make Him even more eager for us to repent. He'd hate for all that suffering to ultimately have been in vain. Plus, He loves us and wants us to follow the path toward happiness, regardless of how much pain He had to go through to open up that path.

Personally, I'm sorry that He had to suffer to try to save sinners like me. If it were up to me, I would have saved Jesus some unjust suffering and I would have left myself to whatever fate I deserve. Yet, despite my wishes, the price of my undeserved redemption has already been paid. Jesus has already paid the infinite cost to bring me home. At this point, the best thing I can do for Him is to not waste the gift His suffering bought for me. I can't spare Him the pain He already experienced. All I can do now is make sure I repent, so my salvation can, in His mind, have been worth the cost.