Friday, April 7, 2023

TWO WORDS

 

TWO WORDS

In the early weeks of an engagement with some anonymous guys on-line, the discussion with the primary questioner had returned to the point of rehearsing the gospel. In a pause, the young man typed two words:

“For me.”

From that point on, for the next few minutes, I simply sat and watched as his thoughts rolled onto my computer screen. In sentence after sentence, he reviewed the basic statements of grace and their ramifications on his life if he claimed those words.

Did he repent and trust Christ? Well, he credibly professed faith in Him; but our exchanges came too soon to an end. I don’t know where life has taken him and the others. Nevertheless, how he laid claim to those two words has lingered with me. In fact, I’m writing this post because they impressed themselves on my mind afresh in my “Good Friday” musings this morning.

“For me.” What a broad landscape surrounds those words:

It can be the, For-me of doubt.

It can also be the, For-me of awe, of realization, of ownership, and of joy.

As we ponder Gethsemane today – what role does, For-me, play in our thinking? Can we embrace For-me, as we study the cross? Can For-me work its way among our Easter traditions and make us look up and take in a deep breath of personal satisfaction with Jesus?

Here’s a little challenge: how many of our hymns or spiritual songs contain those words? For example:

“For me He died,

For me He lives,

And everlasting life and light He freely gives.”

(My Hope Is In the Lord, by Norman J. Clayton)


Yesterday He died for me…

Today He lives for me…

Tomorrow He comes for me…

(Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Jack and Don Wyrtzen)

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