Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

Amazing Grace
By: John Newton, 1725-1807

Listen as you read.  This version is from Sacred Piano by Paul Cardall.

Not to mention, wretched.  Oh how soon we forget.  Or at least try to, but why?

Lost

I do however remember the time I was in Kansas City.  Lost in Kansas City.  And it was in that era before you had a bevy of digital maps in your pocket.  You know how it goes, made a wrong turn, ended up miles from where I meant to be long before I even realized it.  It’s dark, and I was in an unfamiliar place with no real prospects for finding my way.  My fellow travelers began to get visibly concerned.  I quietly reassured them with a confidence that was frankly incongruous with the concern my face undoubtedly revealed.

What is it about admitting we are lost that is so difficult?  What is it about admitting we can not see ourselves or our situation for what it really is?  What is it that enables us to forget, even after learning it is indeed the case, that we are in a really bad way, with no hope of correcting the situation?  What is it?  Simply put, PRIDE.

Pride is essentially a feeling of deep satisfaction derived from one’s accomplishments.  “I’m not lost.  I can see well enough to get out of this.  I am not in too bad of a position here?”  Humility is the antithesis of this.  It allows us to hear and voice a different perspective.  “I am lost.  I can not see how to get out of this situation.  I am in a terrible situation with no ability to help myself.”

Found

It is the sweet sound of grace that allows us to hear these two tunes clearly, and not just at the start, but all along the journey.  Grace is getting what we do not deserve.  Grace allows us to realize how lost we are, and that there is a way out.  Grace enables us to identify our inability to see things clearly if at all, and then restores our sight.  Grace empowers us to stop trusting in ourselves, and shows us the One we can.

I remember praying as I drove those dimly lit Kansas City streets, “God, show me a way out of here.”  It was not long after that we came around a corner and there in the distance I saw an overpass.  It was my way out of the scary scenario I had fallen into, and was trying not to admit.

How often God provides the clarity to see our situation and a way out, and we fail to acknowledge it?  What in your life is causing you to look for an overpass?  Are you willing to ask God for it today?  He is gracious, and wants to show you that again today if you will only ask.

Take a few moments and honestly answer those questions.  Those answers may be the very things that will help you get moving on your journey to be resonant, echoing the reality of Christ in your life again today.  Or maybe for the first time.

Jesus, thank You for helping me to hear the sweet sound of grace.  I want to align my life with it again today.  Help me hear the still, small voice of Your Spirit instructing me where to go so I can find a greater place of resonance with You.

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O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
By: Robert Robinson, 1735-90

Normally “getting carried away” is when you are so excited about something that you can not control what you say or do.  While that should be true of us when we think about the end of this age and the dawn of the one to come, I wonder how often that can be said of us, that is, “Every time she starts talking about heaven she gets carried away.”

In our text we have a very different kind of carrying occurring.  We are praying and asking God, as a matter of the will, to send His angels to transport us from this existence to the one for which we are longing.  In particular, it is actually the great and final carrying away that Robinson is referring to here.  That “carrying away” which ensures  the ransom of my soul from the judgement.  Regardless of your view on the millennial reign of Christ, the real question is, “Are you ready?”

Ready or Not, Here I Come

“Prepare like Christ will not come for some time, but hope it is today.”  That is a phrase I remember hearing early in my journey with Jesus.  It acknowledged a tension that is felt by most who realize they are living between the two Advents of Christ, the one we celebrate at Christmas, and the one we are waiting to happen, His Second Coming.

I really think that tension is felt by anyone who has read and prayed the words of John in Revelation 22:20, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  It exists because even though we want Him to come today, we realize there are many who are not ready for His return.  We long for the endless days, but we struggle with the fact that many will only know endless nights.

We see the turmoil of the world around us and long for another time and another place.  We are waiting for our inheritance to be realized, for the reward of our ransom to finally be ours.  The Father is counting down to that Day when either He takes me to be with Him, or He sends His Son to get me.  I need to make certain I am ready.

Getting Ready

Even as we long for that Day, we can have a peace that we are ready.  It all hinges on two words, “sovereign grace”.  Grace simply means getting what I do not deserve.  Grace that is sovereign would be grace that has supreme of ultimate power.  That is where my trust is, in God’s supreme and ultimate power to give me what I do not deserve.  Through His work on the cross, Jesus made that available to everyone living under these dark skies.  Simply confess your sin, your need of a Savior, and your desire to trust Jesus only to make you right with the Father.  Then you will be ready to get carried away.

Lord Jesus, help me to be ready for Your return.  Until that day, help me to trust and walk in Your sovereign grace.  I long to be carried away to endless days.

What part of being free from sinning is most appealing to you?  Please comment below.

Podcast, Come Thou Fount – Episode 1.5

More Podcasts like this one are available in our Free Member Content Library.  Click here to find out more about it!

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.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
By: Robert Robinson, 1735-90

Wings

“Everytime a bell rings, an angel gets it’s wings.”  Are you familiar with the saying from the Christmas Classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life”?  When I think of Heaven’s courts, I think of angel wings, think Isaiah 6.   

Maybe for you, life is anything but wonderful.  You appreciate what Robinson is saying here for it resonates with your desire for God to seal your heart for the purposes of Heaven, to make it easier to deal with the disappointments of today.  So we ask God to bind us, seal us, for His courts above, not only for the Day when we finally see Him face-to-face, but that we may more faithfully live daily here in His Kingdom purposes.

Sure, it feels like we are bound to fail, and truly, we do every day, but ultimately our inheritance is to fly. You can’t fly if you don’t try.  Since we can not fly yet, should we not try?  That is to say, should we not endeavor to live each day as if God’s Kingdom has come, which indeed it has?  Of course we should, but never in our own strength, always in His.

Paradox

This is the paradox of our faith.  It seems like all I can do is fail.  It seems as though I am bound to fail.  But on the contrary, I am bound to fly.  That is, I am bound to God through Christ’s finished work on the cross appropriated to me through faith and my confession in the efficacy of His sacrifice.  That binding ensures that my heart is taken and sealed for Heaven’s courts.

“So what’s the problem?” you ask.  “Time,” I would offer.  Let me explain.

We believe in Christ and owe a debt of love to His grace.  We want to live for Him but are confronted by the reality of our daily failure to do so.  God exists concurrently in the reality of our present and our future, not to mention our past, and all past.

Newspaper

Though in our living we seem prone to wander, bound to fail, God sees another reality at play.  Though it is only now unfolding for us, it is unfolded for Him.  Think of it this way.  Fold a piece of newspaper.  The words that are inside the fold can not be seen by you, but that makes them no less real.  As you begin to unfold the paper, you begin to distinguish letters, which form into words.  As you continue to unfold the paper, words form into sentences.  Once fully open you can read those sentences and begin to have a sense of what is written there.

The newspaper of our lives is unfolding.  We can see bits and pieces.  Some things make sense, others do not.  One day it will all be clear.  For God the unfolding is not only happening, He is, but it is finished, He is to come.  And by the way, He is the one who wrote the words on the paper in the first place, He was.

I am looking forward to getting my wings, that is, if I will need them.  How about you?

Jesus, I believe You are the One to Whom I owe a debt of love I will never be able to repay.  Even still I am tempted to wander at times.  Bind my redeemed heart to Yours and help me live for You, in this age and the one to come.

Podcast, Come Thou Fount – Episode 1.4

More Podcasts like this one are available in our Free Member Content Library.  Click here to find out more about it!

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
By: Robert Robinson, 1735-90

I remember sitting at an undisclosed burger joint years ago when one of my boys was little.  I can not recall the events that led up to the statement clearly, but it might have been something about, deserving a break that day, or the purported right of the burger-eater to have it their way, when my son made a very clear statement.  “I deserve the wrath of God.”  Truer words have never been spoken to describe the condition of the lost soul before God.

Interposed Defined

It has been quite some time since I casually used that word in a sentence.  Ok, never.  But it is a really great word, and perfectly describes what Jesus did for us.  It means to “place or insert between one thing and another.”  Jesus placed His precious blood between me and God.  That spared me of the danger I faced in the prospect of having to answer to God for my sin.  I deserved wrath.  I receive mercy.

Although Jesus’ sacrifice has forever changed my standing before a Holy God, my experience continues to fall short of the position I have been graciously granted.  Even still, Jesus continues to pursue me, and my feeble tongue simply lacks the capacity to declare how wonderful that is.  If it could, my weak mind also lacks the ability to understand what an incredible substitution has actually taken place.

Better Than I Deserve

I read a wonderful book a few years ago, The Cross Centered Life by C. J. Mahaney.  In it he makes the case for keeping the Gospel the main thing, and offers practical suggestions as to how to practice that.  It is an easy read, and well worth your time.

One of the nuggets I pulled out of this book and have practiced for years is the idea of offering a thoughtful response to the common question, “How you doing?”  I often answer, “Better than I deserve.”  There have been quite a few times over the years when my statement, meant as much for me the one who asked, has elicited an interesting response.

Think About It

The truth is, I simply am always doing better than I deserve to be, because Jesus has rescued me from the danger that my sin had put me in, especially as I consider the prospect of having to answer to a Holy God.  In order to rescue me, He had to pursue me.  And pursue me He did.

And pursue you He did.  And not because you deserved it.  So the obvious answer to the question above for you and me alike is No.  We are not getting what we deserve, and because of Christ’s pursuit, and finished work on the cross, we are going to get what we do not deserve.

Jesus, thank You for pursuing me and for putting your precious blood between me and the wrath of God.  I was wandering from You and You came after me, and have carried me on Your shoulders back into relationship with the Father.  By Your grace may I always be filled with wonder at Your indescribable love for me.  

He who has been forgiven much loves much is the essence of Luke 7:47.  How have you experienced this in your life.  Please share as someone reading this may have never realized they needed a pursuing Savior.

Podcast, Come Thou Fount – Episode 1.3

More Podcasts like this one are available in our Free Member Content Library.  Click here to find out more about it!

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
By: Robert Robinson, 1735-90

Listen as you read.  This version from In Reverence by David Tolk.

I wonder how many a confused worshippers over the years have found themselves asking that question?  So, what is it, you ask.  What is an Ebenezer?

Ebenezer Explained

This is a great example of using an image and story from the Old Testament to inject tremendous weight and meaning in just a few words.  The story Robinson borrows from is found in I Samuel 7 and has the prophet helping the people find their way back to God.  Having been long subdued by their enemies, they begin to turn back to God.  Samuel makes an offering on their behalf, during which time the Philistines attack and are routed.

To commemorate the victory, Samuel erects a stone of remembrance and names it Ebenezer, which means, “stone of help” and says, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” [I Samuel 7:12] And so marks the beginning of a period of rest for the people of God.  The remembrance works two ways: to remind the Israelites what God has done, and to remind God that their eyes were on Him.

Ebenezer Exampled

How often has that happened for you?  When you took a moment to look back over what you have just come through and you said, “Thus far you have helped me Lord”?  And how often have you realized it was not because you deserved it.

How will you remind yourself of God’s past provision, and how will you allow that to encourage your faith as you look forward?  Maybe you will not set up a stone which will remind you, every time you look at it, that God helped you through a particular difficulty.  Maybe you will.  Maybe it is a note or Scripture verse you keep before you.  Maybe it is a piece of ribbon tied around a door knob.  Whatever it is, let it be something.

Ebenezer Expected

So the people of God probably become accustomed to counting on God to be there, forgetting they had a part to play in this.  We are guilty of the same expectation.  So we must remember that we have to keep deciding to look to our Stone of Help.

Because it also has another layer of meaning.  God is our Stone of help.  Not only the help, but the stone as well.  He is firm and unyielding.  Never-changing.  He is our Rock.  Let’s keep looking to Him, until we safely arrive at our final destination, His glorious, eternal Presence.

Faithful God, You are our Ebenezer, our Stone of Help.  As we work and wait through these sorrowful days, empower us to look to You.  Remind us of Your work in the past, and keep our eyes on You today, even as we peer into the future.  Bring us safely home.

Do you have practical ways you remind yourself of God’s help?  Please share as we continue to build a community who encourages each other to resonate 7 days a week.

Podcast, Come Thou Fount – Episode 1.2

More Podcasts like this one are available in our Free Member Content Library.  Click here to find out more about it!