I was feeling pretty lousy yesterday at work. Headache, coughing, sneezing, achy…you get the picture. Usually I wear a mask in the rooms to protect myself from the patient’s germs. Yesterday I had to wear one to protect the patients from me!
It’s pretty hard to take care of people for 12 hours when you feel worse than they do. Finally I gave up and asked my supervisor to see if anyone would be willing to come take over for me. Eventually she was able to find someone and I was so grateful when Scott walked in and took my place. I owe him big time!
Yesterday Scott took my place at work so I could go home and get better. A couple thousand years ago God’s only Son came to take our place, to give His life that we might live. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Ellen White, in the book Desire of Age, said, “Christ was treated as we deserve that we may be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. ‘By His stripes we are healed.’”
I am so grateful to Scott for taking my place yesterday, so I could rest. I am even more grateful to Jesus for taking my place so long ago, so I can live forever. His was a gift I could never earn, but one I gladly accept with all my heart.
How about you? Are you going to keep struggling to be good enough, slowly dying in your sin, or will you let the only One who is good enough take over, so can be healed and someday go Home? I don’t know about you, but that seems like an easy choice to me.
Jesus, take over!! I want to go Home!