Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3: 5-6
In 1755, Robert Robinson was a gang leader, focused on dissolute living. In a drunken stupor he heard the famous preacher, George Whitefield speak. Whitefield’s message touched his conscience for three years until he came to faith in Jesus Christ. He penned the powerful hymn, "Come Thou, Font of Every Blessing" to capture the struggles of his life. Robinson struggled to be faithful. He struggled to live as Jesus taught us. He understand that we need to recommit to Jesus' teaching every day.
"Come Thou, Font of Every Blessing" was one of the first "Protestant" hymns I was introduced to. It speaks of our need of God -- but of our struggles with the forces of the world. How easy it is to forget God in the course of our daily life. We need help to be Christ-like.
The hymn asks us the question: why is it that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves? That we need to teach what we most desperately need to learn? Why is it that we earnestly need to live the gospel anew on a daily basis? Every day we need to learn anew. Robinson captured this reality of ours so well “prone to wander Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” Augustine and Martin Luther both spoke of it as the state of living incurvatus in se -- which is Latin for the human person living bent in on himself. Through the gospel, that bent is changed from oneself to God. It is like a bone being set, everyday. The Holy Spirit must lead us to conform our lives to the gospel -- in the face of human frailty and daily temptation. .
May our spirits acquire a" Godward" bent through the transforming power of the gospel -- and find the glory of Jesus -- in the face of our neighbor, and deep in the recesses of our hearts, find its home.
Listen to: Tobymac, "Me without You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8DpxDQij0&feature=related
PRAY: "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing"
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
In 1755, Robert Robinson was a gang leader, focused on dissolute living. In a drunken stupor he heard the famous preacher, George Whitefield speak. Whitefield’s message touched his conscience for three years until he came to faith in Jesus Christ. He penned the powerful hymn, "Come Thou, Font of Every Blessing" to capture the struggles of his life. Robinson struggled to be faithful. He struggled to live as Jesus taught us. He understand that we need to recommit to Jesus' teaching every day.
"Come Thou, Font of Every Blessing" was one of the first "Protestant" hymns I was introduced to. It speaks of our need of God -- but of our struggles with the forces of the world. How easy it is to forget God in the course of our daily life. We need help to be Christ-like.
The hymn asks us the question: why is it that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves? That we need to teach what we most desperately need to learn? Why is it that we earnestly need to live the gospel anew on a daily basis? Every day we need to learn anew. Robinson captured this reality of ours so well “prone to wander Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” Augustine and Martin Luther both spoke of it as the state of living incurvatus in se -- which is Latin for the human person living bent in on himself. Through the gospel, that bent is changed from oneself to God. It is like a bone being set, everyday. The Holy Spirit must lead us to conform our lives to the gospel -- in the face of human frailty and daily temptation. .
May our spirits acquire a" Godward" bent through the transforming power of the gospel -- and find the glory of Jesus -- in the face of our neighbor, and deep in the recesses of our hearts, find its home.
Listen to: Tobymac, "Me without You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8DpxDQij0&feature=related
PRAY: "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing"
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
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