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Youth Messenger Online Edition

July-September

What Do You Call Him?
Jared Chapman
What Do You Call Him?

God

Heaven

Salvation

Words that often sent shivers of fear running down my spine . . .

As I began questioning “When will I be saved? How is it even possible for me to make it to heaven when I can’t stop making mistakes?”

These questions, doubts of your ability to save, constantly repeated over time,

Created raging seas that would send waves of fear crashing throughout the corners of my mind

‘Cause I had wandered like the prodigal and had become content feeding swine . . .

Delusional, unaware that in Your very existence lied the power to enter a heart hardened with resistance!

The power to change it, rearrange its broken pieces of fear and shame

Into a work of art that glorified your name—Jesus

The Soul Seeker

The Soul Keeper

All the while I drove the holes deeper,

Piercing the nails through the flesh of those healing hands— His hands,

Which simply with a touch could give sight to the blind,

Where lepers would find restoration,

The hands which made paralytics whole

That reached out to save Peter’s sinking soul

Where hopeless sinners would find hope

At the cross, the scene at Calvary right before He died

In tears of agony, it was there my Saviour finally cried, “Father why hast thou forsaken me?”

You see, the physical pain was hardly felt, hardly shown

It was the weight of the sins of every person throughout history,

The mystery that can only be felt to be known

The weight that tore apart the heart of the Son of man

While His Father turned His face from His place upon the throne!

Even though His feet were now nailed, His eyes were still searching,

His heart was still open to nursing the dying, the hopeless the hurting heart of the thief

Whose original rebellion had slowly turned into the belief that the One by his side was the Saviour and he was the chief of sinners,

Who was now well aware of his own heart’s inadequacies

While faced with the Creator of the universe, all of its stars and its galaxies

The Creator of new hearts, new desires, new motives, new mentalities.

You see, I was the thief

Who had wandered a little too far from what my conception of “God’s reach” fully entailed

Unfamiliar with the notion that a Saviour had already sailed

Through the waters of the deep where I continually tried— but always failed

Where He was continually tempted but always prevailed.

You see, His salvation was assured through the power which is now accessible to all,

For our battles have been fought our victories have already been won

The moment He whispered the words “It is finished” the work was done!

Now by faith in His word and His word alone, we are made righteous,

We become partakers of this divine nature

Through the One who came to call us His sons and His daughters

Though sadly today it’s Christians who have begun to water down the message of the Water of life . . .

Another gospel, watered down into “No matter what you do, Jesus still loves you,”

Which is true

But Jesus loves you more than just to leave you living in sin.

He came, died and rose again,

Revealing His majestic love so you could be drawn to be born again

To walk in newness of life with “Jesus” not as a mere name, but as a power dwelling within;

Where you can experience restoration of the broken bridge lost between the divide.

Today you can walk next to your Saviour, hand in hand, side by side

Without fear,

Dwelling in appreciation under the robe of His righteousness He lovingly supplied.

And today is the day, now is the time to stop wondering

Before you begin wandering any farther­—

Away from the Rock, the Cornerstone, our Harbor

Jesus, my Saviour, the One who still called me His child

While still a sinner, worn, torn and defiled.

He calls out to you, “My child”

And if you’re thinking, “maybe I’ve wandered too far,” remember

He’s not just any Father . . .

He’s my Father, my Saviour, Creator, my Redeemer, my heart’s Healer

The Light of the world, my best Friend . . .

What do you call Him?