OzThoughts –Thursday 20th August, 2009

OzThoughts –Thursday 20th August, 2009

For a long time the hymn “My Jesus, I love Thee” has been a favourite of mine. I particularly enjoy it sung to the tune “Flow gently Sweet Afton”.

The hymn writer has got it right in that our love for Jesus is a response to Jesus’ love for us:

I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. (Verse 2).

How important are the words “tis now”? The writer marks the point that his love for Jesus is very current. These two simple words locate his passion right here in the present time. It is not a historical love, although its roots as indicated in verse 2 go way back.

It is a love with a hope. The writer expresses that hope in words of commitment. I notice that commitment is not only for this life but for eternity. Our hope is an eternal hope that is matched with eternal commitment.

However, that eternal commitment is current. At each stage the commitment is matched with the words “tis now”.

Who was the hymn writer? William Ralph Featherstone was just a 16 year old. It seems he was a new convert who expressed his new found love in these words. We don’t know much more about him. He was a Canadian Wesleyan Methodist and we know the names of his parents. Other than that little is known except he died aged only 27.

[Listen: Band: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_2110.mp3
or
Songsters (Tune: Flow Gently, Sweet Afton): http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music/mus_1001.mp3 ]

My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine,
For thee all the pleasures of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art thou,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I will love thee in life, I will love thee in death,
And praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath;
And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow:
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of Glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore thee and dwell in thy sight;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow:
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
Author: William Ralph Featherstone (1846-73)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 357

Romans 5:1-11 (The Message)
1-2 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
3-5 There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
9-11 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!