[CS-FSLUG] The Chief and the Thief

[Fred A. Miller]

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#4701 - "The Chief and the Thief"
Isaiah 53:5-6 

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        It was centuries ago, when all of North America belonged to its Native 
people. One nomadic Indian tribe in the Great Plains was blessed with a chief 
that was beloved and respected by everyone who knew him. He was known as a 
man who deeply loved his people, and he showed it - and a man of absolute 
justice and fairness and he showed that. One day some braves brought a very 
troubling report to him; there had been several mysterious thefts from people 
in the tribe. The chief wanted to nip this kind of stealing in the bud so he 
announced a severe penalty for the thief. He would be tied to a post when the 
sun was high, his back laid bare, and he would be beaten with a whip twenty 
times. Then the chief set a trap. He asked two of his trusted braves to leave 
some animal pelts in front of a teepee one night and to watch all night from 
another tepee. It was the middle of the night when one of those braves 
awakened the chief with the news, "We've caught the thief." "Then bring him 
in," the chief ordered sternly. 

        You could see the reluctance and even the pain on the braves' faces as 
they brought the thief into the chief's tent that night. The chief was 
stunned to see who they had caught. It was his own mother. The next day, when 
the sun was high, everyone in the tribe gathered around the pole in the 
center of the village. There was heated discussion about what the chief would 
do. Would he sacrifice his love for his mother for the sake of justice and 
fairness? Or would he sacrifice his justice for his love? 

        Now it was time. Very sadly, two braves marched the chief's mother to 
the whipping post and they tied her there as two women bared her back for the 
whip. "The chief is putting his justice above his love," the people whispered 
as the warrior with the whip raised his right arm to administer the first 
lash. Suddenly, the chief emerged from his tepee and he shouted, "Stop! Let 
her go!" As the people turned to look at their chief walking toward the 
whipping post, they began to say, "His love is greater than his justice. He's 
letting her go unpunished for what she did." The chief untied the thief he 
loved, and then to the shock of everyone, as he removed his buckskin shirt, 
he said, "Tie me." Hesitantly, the braves tied their chief to the post. Then 
he barked out his final command, "Begin the whipping." There, before all his 
people, their honored chief took the full and painful punishment for the 
crimes of the one he loved. 

        I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The 
Chief and the Thief." 

        That story is my story, and that story is your story. The chief is no 
one less than the Prince of Heaven, the Son of Almighty God. The one who has 
broken the law and deserves the punishment is me - and you. God's justice 
could not be compromised; all our sinning against Him, all our defiant 
choices that have ignored what He wanted had to be paid for. And the penalty 
established long ago is death. Because of His justice, your sin had to be 
punished. 

        Because of His love, He didn't want you to have to pay it. So He 
stepped into your place and, on a blood-stained cross, took all the hell for 
all your sin. 

        Isaiah 53:5-6, our word for today from the Word of God, "He was 
pierced for our transgressions ... the punishment that brought us peace was 
upon Him ... we all, like sheep, have gone astray ... and the Lord has laid 
on Him the iniquity of us all." Today, Jesus is coming to you where you are, 
offering to give you the pardon He secured for you with His blood. But you 
have to take it or you will face the punishment He died to save you from. 
Please, don't wait another day to make things right with God. Tell Him, 
"Lord, because you died and rose again for me, I'm putting all my trust in 
you." That's how you trade death for life. The booklet I wrote about this 
commitment is called Yours For Life, and I want to send it to you if you'll 
just let me know you want it. 

        Don't walk away from the One who took your place and took your 
punishment. He's your only hope and He loves you. He really loves you.

If you're not sure you belong to Jesus, and you would like to make sure today, 
Ron would like to send to you a free copy of the booklet, "Yours for Life: 
How to Have Life's Most Important Relationship."  To read it online, click 
here:
http://www.yoursforlife.net/

OR, to request your free copy of "Yours for Life," click here:
http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/yours/yflorder.html

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"A Word With You" by Ron Hutchcraft is a daily radio challenge, with 
slice-of-life illustrations and insights - providing practical help on the 
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Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Permission to distribute this material via 
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Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Reprinted with permission. "A Word With 
You" is a radio outreach of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.

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