Dear Friends,
We celebrate with you in this Easter season as all Christendom reflects on the life and death and resurrection of our Master and our Messiah, Jesus. This poem from several years ago is an expression of what Christ Jesus did not do and what He did do for us.
He Did Not
by Jerry Johnson
He did not ignore our debt
He did not condemn us for our debt
He did not lie to Himself about our debt
He did not desert us because we owed Him a debt
He did not require us to pay anything to cover our debt
He did not consider our debt to be too expensive for Him to pay it
He did not consider what we deserve to outweigh His interest in us
He saved us
He forgave us
He died for us
He justified us
He sanctified us
He did not forget us
The only One
Good enough
Perfect enough
Pure enough
Righteous enough
To point a finger at us and condemn us
Did not condemn us
He died for us
O what a fresh breath of air such thoughts are to a nursing home resident who believes in Jesus. But they struggle to see the light in their circumstances. Their body is failing them. Their mind is foggy. Their friends and their precious spouse have passed away. The facility staff are busy. Their home is sold and they don’t know what happened to their dog and cat. And all they can do is lie there and think about it.
If you can sing them a hymn. If you can read them the Bible. If you can hold their hand and cry or laugh with them. O what a blessing you are! If we have done it unto His lowly brother or sister, Jesus counts it as if we did it to Him! (Matthew 25:40)
Thank you for reading this note. Thank you for helping us help them!
Love,
Jerry and Dar Johnson