An Unfair Trade

AN UNFAIR TRADE I offered Christ my failures, the shame of all my sin; He gave me His forgiveness and came to live within. I offered Christ my suffering and all the tear-filled days; He gave me all His blessings and filled my heart with praise. I offered Christ my heartaches, the loneliness, the greed; He gave me all His riches, supplying every need. I’ve traded lots of places, but never have I made The deal that He accepted and said, “The price is paid.” I cannot understand it--the trades were so unfair! And yet they were accepted when I met Him in prayer. I still look at the failures, find them hard to forgive; He says, “I don’t condemn you, now go for Me and live.” I still see all the battles, the times I fall in strife; He says, “I came to help you, now give to Me your life.” I still cry in my heartaches, it seems an oft release; He says, “I came to give you My special kind of peace.” I trade with Him each morning and often through the day, For I feel so unworthy and I fall along my way. Yet every time I’ve traded, He never says, “Unfair!” He just picks up the pieces of what I’ve broken there. A vow--a promise broken; in sin I fall again; A habit or a pleasure--I just can’t seem to win! I sit here and I marvel--the trades of which I tell I know I don’t deserve them; I ought to burn in hell! Oh, Lord, how can I thank You? What can I do or say? I know what you will give me when I trade my life away. So Lord, I’ll keep on trying, and even though I’ve made So many, many blunders and many unfair trades, I know You still will love me, some day I’ll trade once more This weak and sinful body for a new one on that shore!