Archive for March 14th, 2008

Anyone that knows me knows that I can’t remember anything for very long.  If I don’t make a point to put it into long-term memory then it is…what was I talking about?  Sorry I couldn’t resist.  So because of this problem if I know that on a particular song that we are doing I am not going to have the words in front of me then I have to really listen to it and just sit and soak in it to get them memorized.  And as I was preparing for the Easter special that we are doing at church I began to really study the words so that I would remember them when it came time to sing.  Luckily, all of the verses in the song are the same and obviously the chorus is the same as well.  But I began to wonder why the writer made all of the verses the same and I believe it is because there are times that we just don’t get it.

I have had many conversations with my friends where we will discuss getting a deal on some purchase that we made, and we get really proud of ourselves when we negotiate a cheaper price or feel like we have gotten something for free.  Yet, we have gotten the most important thing in our life for free and we don’t always get that excited about it.  We have opportunities to share about it or tell that we have it and we don’t.  Let me take this opportunity to share the lyrics with you so that you can understand what we have gotten for free…

He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His Wounds by His Wounds
We are healed

Now I have highlighted several words that I want you to really look at.  We were healed and saved because someone else took all of our pain and punishment.  Jesus Christ went to the cross and took our piercing, He went to the whipping block and took our beating and was crushed when we should have been.  He took the punishment for our crimes and sins so that we would not have to. 

How many of us have had a speeding ticket get dropped and we felt so fortunate and we were so excited that we told everyone?  Basically the same thing happened for our eternity; Jesus paid our fine so that we could still spend eternity with Him and the Father.  I really hope that you will take the time to think about just how fortunate we are that we don’t have to receive what we deserve.  If you would like to listen to the song click the link below.

By His Wounds