Jesus in my place

An open letter to my Redeemer

It would be amiss not to begin my correspondence with thanks-giving. Thank you Lord Jesus for laying your life down and rescuing me from such destruction; I would love to believe that I have not taken your sacrifice as a small feat, in fact you had the entire world, both the known world and the unseen realm where Satan and his renegades live causing havoc up against you and even those closest to you at times didn’t really understand what was going on; most of the time in fact! You had come to live and then died for sin.

As I look back over time I have been haphazard with my application and the call on my life. We are taught very clear from scripture that you will know a tree by its fruits. A man often says one thing whilst doing another as hypocrisy plays its part. Thank you Father God for reminding me of the price paid for my salvation.  It cost the Lord Jesus having to leave the portals of heaven. He bled and died for me! Why do I at times so haphazardly draw away and find myself sitting in the pigs pen of unbelief, forgive me! Old patterns of habits unfortunately still play their part and when broken down it is nothing more than the sin of unbelief. How I long for the day when I will be like Him with every one of my considerations.

In spite of so many grappling with their old natures in one form or another, the thought of your liberation is almost a fairytale to my intellect but I know it to be true. There is such beauty in your cruel sacrifice; it has freed me from certain destruction and eternal damnation. It has given the Christian true hope. To find myself amongst that number gives me such an overwhelming awareness of absolute bliss that I am almost left speechless. But I will not be silent! I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever and I will shout from the mountaintops when it comes to your love my heavenly Father. Jesus Christ my Lord has rescued me by laying down His life upon that cruel Roman hill, Golgotha is its name. “Jesus in my place”! Can you hear the cry O sluggard, Jesus has died for you, what will you do with His sacrifice?

Let’s consider a man’s discipline, my self-restraint. To be fair there is a small amount of resolve that plays its part in my life, mornings are the best times for me; while everyone still sleeps I am able to have fellowship with my God. This is a deliberate action and over time I have made my own. Thank you my God for your grace in this area of my life. But what of times when I have had it in my power to do something deliberate, to bless someone else at my expense, there are countless times where selfishness has had the victory. The Lord Jesus was never like that; "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Luke 9:58) - He always thought of others first. Or what of the time where He felt the need to fast and pray for 40 days prior to His encounter with the devil. I have fasted only once and that was for 3 days, a long shot off the target. I am filled with so much self and I confess my weakness.

No going back to my state prior to salvation, the daunting reality of it all is I didn’t know that I needed saving. I went about my daily business none the wiser, save that niggling thought, “there must be more”. I did nothing to deserve rescue and yet I have found it in you, wow! Lost to my sin and then salvage; the love of God who can fathom it; YOU took pity on a people inapt to their sin, no differently to a headless chicken running aimlessly waiting for death to have the final say. Bereavement the final puncture in a man’s life! But you alone conquered death and it has now lost its sting, praise God!

Lord Jesus you are my hero, there is no one who can compare with you and I mean NO ONE! Bless your name now and forever more, Amen and Amen! The world can have their super heroes for I have mine, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; I am His and He is mine; nothing else is needed to sustain a man. Sure food and clothing is required through life but He will always make a way when there seems to be no way through the trial of life, I have lived long enough to understand this truth and there are many recorded accounts of this reality both in the recorded documentation of scripture and through the testimony of others who have lived beyond that Era. I can vouch for that.

I must confess that I hate the weakness of my flesh but in the same breathe I love how you have fashioned feebleness to highlight our need to depend on your grace and not on our own achievement the way religion teaches a man to behave as it looks for him to find justification in what he does instead of what you have done. Salvation is a gift of God, it is all of God! We have no claim to boast regardless of our obedience. Nevertheless we must all learn to find obedience in our God and we must learn to trust you through the throws of life. How the vortex of that struggle continuously nags away at my inner core having to be told this truth over and over again. I depend upon your justification. It is God who justifies and not our own deceiving intellects. This is a lesson we must all wrestle with to make our own; “Jesus in my place”!  

I do admit that the traps along life’s journey are very real. They often bring a man to his knees, why am I so slow to understand? Forgive me Lord Jesus my love. The doubts of unemployment have pressed hard on me and the niggling thought of food, shelter and raiment is very real and I cannot pretend that this doesn’t concern me. In South Africa and under the current condition as a white man nearing almost half a century leaves me with an anxiety that I detest.  If only I could learn to channel every drive I possess into your loving arms. How I long to rest in them, to lay my head upon your chest and feel the comfort of your heart beat as it brings about that peace which you alone impart to those who draw nigh unto you. To feel a sense of absolute safety even amidst the inundation of the storms of life as the waves of time bash away at my hope. But nay my God, my hope is in you and the harder the wind beats upon my cheeks the more it drives me to cling onto you. You are the greatest of Shepherds and I love you for your tender mercies, forgive me for the times when I seem to lose sight of my hope in you, I ask for your forgiveness for the stints in my life where I lack faith and I am quick to run to the “old man” for release which always without exception brings regret.

Change my heart my God and make it ever new so that I may be like you, this is my longing desire. Continue to ignite my hope in your finished work and continue to remind me that those who endure to the end shall be saved and ultimately become like you, wow! This is the Christians hope and it is only ever attainable by our faith in you. We must all learn to depend upon your finished work in spite of the trickery of our minds and the lies we are told by those outside.

Help these words now begin to mold me like never before is my prayer, so that I may be about your business and not my selfish wants which always disappoint; “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1Corinthians 15:56-58)  

Kiss me my Lord with your mouth for your love is far better than the comfort of wine. Do not look upon my blemishes of life for they have left terrible scars; they often remind me of my folly and cause me to take my eyes off your beauty. The distractions of life often call my name, forgive me my love! How graciously you deal with me, I still have so much to learn whilst you patiently succor me in my need. I have a long way to travel, draw nigh unto to me for the journey remains a treacherous one but I know with absolute assurance that you shall sustain me through it all. You are the anchor to my soul. Please extinguish all the flames of my unbelief as the trials of life press in. I know that they have been designed for my benefit and they are there to teach me to trust you my gracious heavenly Father. Dependency upon you my Lord is the lesson, with independence needing to make a rapid exit.

Lord when I gaze into your eyes, my love is stirred to new heights as you settle my nerves and your concern gives me a calming peace that relaxes my soul. As I glean through your Word, the Bible, I realize that Moses allowed men through the law to divorce their wives because of the hardness of their hearts and yet I have given you countless opportunities for neglect but you stick closer than a brother in spite of my conduct. Thank you my love. My ending prayer is please equip me to leave all the rot of unbelief behind and help me cleave with absolute resolve onto your finished work in every area of my life so that just like Samson I may end well bringing you the glory you alone so richly deserve.

“JESUS IN MY PLACE”!

Signing off

Tyrone