I was sent this excerpt from a book the other day, and at first glance it seems to be giving a great message:
You are loved!
As one of His redeemed ones
you are His delight,
you are His delight,
& all His desire is to you,
with the longing of a love that is stronger than death,
which many waters cannot quench.
His heart yearns for you,
seeking your fellowship and your love.
If it were needed,
He would die again to possess you.
He would die again to possess you.
As the Father loved the Son,
and could not live without Him -
this is how Jesus loves you.
His life is bound up in yours;
You are to Him
inexpressibly more indispensable and precious
than you can ever know.
You are one with Him.
"As the Father loved Me, I have also loved you."
What love! ~ Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray, p.134What bothered me about it after I read it carefully was that it has an Armenian spin- "If you were the only human on earth Jesus would have come and died for you." While the gospel message is that Christ died for his people to reconcile us back to God, and it is wonderfully humbling, let us not forget who it's about. It's not about us, Gods people. We have 'died' and are now One with Jesus. It's about God, His work and plan and glory, love and grace, and Christ Jesus being the fulfillment of all God requires. I have changed a few sentences to make this poem more Messiah centered:
*Forgive me Andrew Murray, and I am in no way taking credit for this change. I just thought it was better explained if I rewrote it so others can see what I see.
You are loved! *edited version
As one of His redeemed ones
Jesus is your delight,
&
all His desire is for the glory of God,
with the longing of a love that is stronger than death,
which many waters cannot quench.
His heart yearned for The Father,
seeking Gods fellowship and His love.
Thankfully it's not needed,
That He die again.
As the Son loved the Father,
and delighted in Him -
this is how we should love Jesus.
For He first loved us.
His life is bound up in God;
Jesus is to Him
inexpressibly more indispensable
and precious
than you can ever know.
You are one with Him bought with His blood.
"As the Father loved Me, I have also loved you."
What love!
If you're more confused than ever, forgive me. It's just that the original writing exults mans position. It screams -you you you you you etc etc...- Which is language that can lead to a prideful heart.
That's all.
Zep 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
ReplyDeleteMal 3:17a “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession..."
You are partly right, though I disagree with the "exulting man's position" as the over-riding theme of the excerpt.
It is right and proper to see ourselves in the light of our sin, as lowly mud-crawling worms.
But.
As the above 2 Scriptures show, we cannot forget who we are in God's sight. He SINGS OVER US. WE ARE HIS TREASURED POSSESSION (Jewels in some translations). That is not man-centred, but reminds us who we really are. Rejoice. And Again I say rejoice!
Isn't God thoroughly good? I believe that's what Andrew Murray was attempting to show. We abide in Christ because of His great love for us. We love Him because He first loved us.
Yes! God sings over us and we are His treasured possessions because we are in Christ, the Elect.
ReplyDeleteWe bring nothing to the table. God delights in us *only* because we belong to Jesus Christ.
There is no other gospel.