I love the Lord.  By the Lord, I mean my Lord and Savior, Jesus who is the Christ, the Messiah (God’s Anointed).  Why?  What would cause such enamor?

• I Love Him because every time that Roman scourge tore His flesh leaving lacerations, they were not rightfully His, but He took them for me.
• I Love Him because the pain from every thorn from the crown that pierced His head was not His, but He took it for me.
• I Love Him because every inch of flesh severed by the spikes nailing Him to the cross were not for His crimes, but mine.  He took them for me.
• I Love Him because the ridicule he endured was not for His inconsistent living, but for mine.  He took it for me.
• I Love Him because the blood that poured out from His spear-pierced side did not atone for His sins (for He had none) but for mine.  He took it for me.
• I Love Him because He first loved me and on that rough-hewn cross, a man called Jesus, the Word of God that became flesh, took it for me.

I Love Him and I long to be near Him.  My favorite hymn expresses this desire clearly:

– Scott