One of the things I don’t think we consider enough is how things would have gone if God didn’t love us as much as He does. Just for a moment, imagine that you don’t know what you know about the Bible. Imagine that God didn’t have everything, like Jesus’s sacrifice for our salvation, planned beforehand. Put yourself in a world where the intended plan was for you to suffer and die for your sins. Because instead of Jesus, it really should have been you. That’s why I love the song “Should’ve Been Me” by Citizen Way. To the lyrics we go!
I've read the story; I've seen the movie
I give to charity and tithe my ten percent
These I remember
But I so easily forget
All these years never heard it like this
It’s easy to remember the sacrifice that God planned so that we could be cleansed from our sin. We know the story of how it all played out and what we’re supposed to do. We have a clear understanding of what we were saved to, but do we really have a clear understanding of what we were saved from? We really do easily forget that, without God’s intervention, the intent was for us to be on that cross to face the consequences of our sin and shame through suffering, torture, pain, humiliation, death, and the endless, justified, powerful wrath of God.
It should have been us up there bleeding out. It should have been us carrying our instrument of death up that hill. It should have been us locked away in a tomb, fully separated from God. But we forget that. We forget that we’re supposed to be chasing after a relationship with the one who saved us. And while I won’t expand on this too much because it’s not the point of this post, we far too often use our salvation to judge and ridicule others instead of remembering we would be in their place, too, if we hadn’t accepted Jesus’s sacrifice for us.
And the last line of that verse is poignant. We talk about what things should have been like before Jesus died for us, but we don’t talk about it like this. We always view the sacrifice objectively, not personally. That’s why this song is so powerful to me. It’s a personal, put-yourself-in-the-position-of-Christ viewpoint.
It should've been me; It should've been us
Should've been there hanging on a cross
All of this shame, all of these scars
Should've been stains that were never washed
The first part of this chorus is so powerful. Like I briefly touched on earlier, really consider a life and a world without Jesus’s sacrifice. Take away the plan that God had in place and put yourself in that world. Take all the things you’ve ever done wrong: take every lie you’ve ever spoken; every insult you’ve ever said; every time you’ve lusted after someone; every time you were jealous of what someone else had; every time you cursed; every time you didn’t listen to your parents; every time you gossiped; every time you ever sinned against God. Now remember the worst pain you’ve ever felt, multiply it by 10,000, and subject yourself to it for every single one of those things you did. Because it would’ve been you.
And that doesn’t even come close to comparing how painful it would be to suffer and be condemned by God’s just wrath for your sins and the separation from Him for eternity you would endure had Jesus not died on the cross.
Why do I hide; why do you try
Over and over and over again
I guess it just leaves me saying thank God
It leaves me saying thank God, thank God
For the should've been
I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t even wrap my mind around a world without a chance to be wiped clean from all of my mistakes by a God who loved me so much he took the would’ve been and made it the should’ve been. Citizen Way nailed the feeling of that. All you can do is thank God for changing everything so that it was a should’ve been moment.
So, don’t forget the should’ve been. It helps keep things in perspective. We’re so ready to say that it’s hard to read our Bibles or do the right thing. It’s hard to really pursue a relationship with God. But use the perspective of the should’ve been. Is it really so hard to read your Bible every day and spend time with the one who made it so your judgment for sin is a should’ve been? I don’t think so. Remember, it should’ve been us.