November 9, 2013
I ran across this delightful piece of poetry which appears as a hymn in some older hymnbooks. It's by the great hymn writer Thomas Hastings - think "Rock of Ages."
It speaks to me of a "longing for belonging."
Truth be told there is a longing within each of us that will never be content this side of glory.
We wander, in mind and in spirit, looking for others who, in the words of Paul to the Philippians,
"...want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead... (to) press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of (us)..."
Do you recognize that longing, that stirring of your soul, that beckoning, that daring you to throw it all in, to take the ultimate challenge, to sell everything you have, give it to the poor in order to follow Him? In other words to turn your back on a world that seems increasingly hostile to sacrifice, to service, to wildly extravagant grace and just to BE; to be in Christ, to be with the broken and the hurting, to be one of those who shares the story and witnesses the unfolding of the Kingdom?
What holds us back?
Only a misguided faith. We reason that that we have certain responsibilities, that God would not have us act irrationally. Really? Jesus is our model of rationality? No. Jesus is our model of faith which at its core cannot be seen as rational according to human reason, but looking to the One who has saved us, it becomes not just rational (through the eyes of faith) and not just commendable, but downright compelling.
Charles Wesley, another great hymn writer, penned this hymn that seems to have lost its way amongst the mainline/sideline denominations. It is most often these days sung as an "old African American Gospel" tune and perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from those who, even in slavery, could sing such words.
Father, I stretch my hands to Thee,
No other help I know;
If Thou withdraw Thyself from me,
Ah! whither shall I go?
What did Thine only Son endure,
Before I drew my breath!
What pain, what labor, to secure
My soul from endless death!
Surely Thou canst not let me die;
O speak, and I shall live;
And here I will unwearied lie,
Till Thou Thy Spirit give.
Author of faith! to Thee I lift
My weary, longing eyes:
O let me now receive that gift!
My soul without it dies.
They do. And they die slowly: one new car, a new job, one more degree, a nicer home at a time.
But do we recognize it? Or are we already in what my children jokingly refer to as the Zombie Apocalypse where the dead wander freely, devouring the living???
How badly do we want a movement of God, a costly, life changing, sacrificial movement of the Spirit to thrust us into the unknown, the unsecure, the "irrational" life of faith in God's provision?
May the Lord bless us with a renewed vision for service, for sacrifice, for a chance to die figuratively to ourselves or perhaps even literally, for the sake of the Kingdom.
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