I am not sure which is more humbling, the fact that Jesus died for me, for my sin, or that He stated that He would, way before I was born, quite a long time ago. I know that I have written about this realization before, but if you read me often, you know that what God says needs to be written, gets written.

There is a young Christian singer out of Minnesota, I think named Heidi Holt. Her voice considerably more influential then her age might allow. In her song “Hands Ache” she sings her dialogue with Jesus. Like many Christians, we grieve over the fact that it is our sins that drive the nails through His Hands again and again. No, we weren’t there when, as Ms Holt, aptly informs us, , when He was taken, and broken, hung on a tree or when He was slain. The reality is that we were there, and continue to be there, everytime we fall to temptation.

We question are we to blame, have we caused the pain that became Your scarred Hands. Are we what causes Your Hands to ache, when You look to see us so far from Your arms, so far from the child You expected us to be. We wonder, if You would ever think it was all in vain, the ransom You paid for the sins we so nonchalantly commit. What expectation should we have that everytime we sin, we are forgiven?

There is a grace that is unfathomable, a grace that comes to each and every believer of Jesus from now until the end of time. It is given without question or reservation in every condition and circumstance. It is easy to conceive Jesus’s crucifixion on a world full of sinners, but Heidi doesn’t hide behind that supposition. She holds nothing back asking when we mess up again, will we still be worth the pain. We must appreciate the anxiety of her admission. we will mess up again, that is a certain, the speculation comes in our lack of belief that Jesus will continue to forgive.

This song makes it clear Jesus has no intention of abandoning us. On the Cross of Pain, He held your name, and on that tree He said that He did for us. Some of the final lines from her song conclude that we know Jesus’ Hands ache still for the pain of our sins and that Jesus still forgives us and holds us in His arms.

A second band writes about the wonder of this grace with lyrics that portrays us as wounded and unworthy, selfish and untrue and yet, we can still find salvation at the foot of the cross. It doesn’t matter the level or frequency of our sins, they are wiped clean by the Man with the Hands that ache……

IHN 091007