By Dr. Donna Arthur Downs

Where would we be if Jesus had said
after walking along for a while
“I’m so very weary and so very tired—
I can’t walk another mile.”
If He’d put down His cross, turned His back on the crowd,
and quit without finishing His task,
Where would you be and where would I be?
Have you ever just stopped to ask?

What would we say if Jesus had said,
“I’m not going to die for you!
What have you done for me today?
I’ll do no more than that for you!”
If Jesus had merely lived for Himself,
if He hadn’t unselfishly died,
Where would you be and where would I be
if Jesus had never tried?

But Jesus did come, and Jesus did walk,
and He carried His cross to His death.
He gave all for you and He gave all for me—
He gave ’til his dying breath.
So how can we live so fruitless each day?
How can we so easily tire?
If we would live just one day as Jesus did live,
we’d set the whole world on fire!

From Poems of Faith: A journey through faith one poem at a time