By Melissa McLaughlin

The gift of Christ

The gift of Christ…

I take the stain of your sin… I cleanse you with the light of my mercy.

I take the sting of death… I infuse you with the joy of life eternal.

I defeat hell, Satan, evil… I award you with my glorious victory.

I pay the cost of your sin-debt… I endow you with my immeasurable inheritance.

I carry your selfishness, pride, impurity, bitterness, greed, lies, envy and arrogance upon my shoulders… In exchange, I lay down my life for you.

 

To your self-righteous claims, I speak gently of the cross.

For your self-exalted heart, I stoop to wash your feet.

With nail-scarred hands, I cover your wounds, offenses and pain with my balm of compassion and forgiveness.

I see the dark depths of your innermost being, yet I touch and heal your sin-sick soul with my radiant love.

 

I whisper beauty in your loneliness.

I sing tenderly over you in dark of night.

I move mountains of fear with one breath of my Word.

My Spirit sweeps through every shadowed corner of your mind with my unchanging truth and living hope.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.

I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

The gift of Christ

My gift to you is the delight of my Presence in heaven for all eternity. Not by your merit, not by your efforts… by my grace, by my blood.

My gift to you is life everlasting with me…

the One who made you,

who knows you,

who loves you,

who died to save you.

 

Though I give you all, your very breath and life… still I wait. I invite you to come.

Carpenter’s son.

Fisher of men.

Son of God and Son of Man.

Messiah, Lamb of God, King of Kings.

 

Come, receive a gift like no other.

A gift purchased for you with holy blood.

Come, follow me, to a place I have prepared for you.

Come, follow me.

Follow me…

To heaven.

This is the gift of Christ.

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jeremiah 31:3 – I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Isaiah 9:6 – For to us a child is born,  to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

John 14:1-6 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

Additional Resources

Vision of Red Poem By Melissa McLaughlin

Breath of God Poem By Melissa McLaughlin

His are the Hands Poem by Melissa McLaughlin