Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
Oh, let me seek Thee, and, oh, let me find!
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
By: George Croly, 1780-1860
Listen as you read. This is a lovely piano solo version.
As we endeavor to be more resonant today we will spend some time cultivating our response to God’s love. On Thursday we will turn our attention to the cross, the greatest expression of God’s love, but for today we are going to consider His love for us and the response it should evoke it us. We want to be more resonant, allowing His purposes to echo freely in our lives, and considering His love is one of the best ways to nurture that. Will you come with us on the journey today?
Bid
As we walk along through the ideas created by these hymn texts, often we have to stop and consider what a particular word means so as to ascertain the meaning. Bid here is a wonderful example of such consideration. Wonderful and complex.
The image above portrays the most common usage of bid today. To make an offer in hopes of winning an auction. eBay has made this an exhilarating addiction for some, but this has nothing to do with what the hymn is saying.
The most accurate usage is one that essentially means to beseech or entreat, but unfortunately those words only clear things up a little for they are pretty uncommon today as well. This is essentially what God is doing, asking us urgently and fervently to love Him. But not because He needs it. One the contrary, because of the effect He knows loving Him has on us. Loving Him opens the door to living a life of love. Abiding.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 ESV
For this reason, I think two other definitions may even be more emphatic. One is invite and the other is tell. I think these are all true. God certainly invites us to love Him, and He also commands it.
So it begs the question. Are we learning to abide in His love, in Him?
Abide
And just what does that mean. Abide means to continue in a place, so to abide in love, in God, means to continue in love, in God. Abiding is life-giving, love-nurturing. Consider this image.
When Jesus taught about abiding He used the image of a vine and it’s branches. (See John 15:1-17) This is beautiful concept. If we remain in Christ, continue in Christ, He will remain in us. So you see, there is a “bid” in “abide”. There is an invitation in the continuation.
Jesus also taught in the Greatest Commandment that we should love all of God with everything we have. Here is the telling part of the bidding. He said it like this.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Mark 12:30 ESV
So I just want to ask a couple questions to finish today. Is there anything prohibiting you from staying in that place of love? Are you harboring any unforgiveness, resentment or jealousy? No. Good for you. But that is not enough.
If we are continuing in a place of love, we must bear the fruit of that continuing. We must love. Love is not only an idea and feeling, it is an action. What have you done today to love others? Are you being diligent to demonstrate love? And here’s the tough one. How have you demonstrated love to someone who is unloving, or unable to return the love?
Not sure how to advance the cause of love today? Watching the video below will provide you with a few minutes to cultivate a life of love. Please take advantage of this one which is available to everyone, not only subscribers. If you can not watch it now, come back later today when you have 5:53. It will be time well spent.
Honest Tuning!
Spirit of God, thank You for not only inviting me, but also telling me to love God. And then helping me to do it. I need you every day to abide in love. Help me Spirit to do so with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. In Jesus name. Amen.
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Everyone, please enjoy this video log! And the transcript below!
Video 6.3 Transcript
Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.
Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
Oh, let me seek Thee, and, oh, let me find!
We start with a rhetorical question. Yes, God has urgently pleaded with us to love Him, not because He needs our love, but because He knows that affection inclines us to things that are good for us. Thank Him for bidding you to love Him.
And then the repeated word, ALL. When a writer repeats something it is important. How should we love? By giving God all our prayers, passion, energy and intelligence. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you love Him with everything you are.
The cross teaches us to deny ourselves. If we are to love God with everything, we must learn self-denial. Ask Jesus to teach you how to hold fast to the cross.
Deuteronomy 4:29 says “You will find [God] when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.” The hymn writer offers a simple prayer. Echo that prayer, “God, let me seek You.”
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.
Sing
Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Image Attributions
Bid – https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/steel/numetal-restructured-to-become-eligible-to-bid-for-essar-steel-coc/articleshow/65958320.cms
Abide – http://handmeanotherbrick.com/2017/03/09/spiritual-service-and-abiding/
Questions – https://giphy.com/gifs/book-library-literacy-l0HlRnAWXxn0MhKLK
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