I've seen both of these stanzas before, but don't think I've ever seen them put together in the same hymnal. (Though I have sung them together on my own.)
All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.
Which of these two stanzas is familiar to you?
This post is a reply to a video posted on a younger sister's blog. For maximum benefit, please view the video before reading this post.
He has a very strong point as far as wasting our lives on pleasure. However, he fails to recognize the Internet as a tool. Rather, he (along with many of our own younger generation) equates it with a source of vanity and entertainment.
My Russian studies rely very heavily on online dictionaries and other such resources. And sometimes I refer to an online interlinear Bible and Greek references. Believe it or not, I've even had a lot of meaningful fellowship with other believers I know through Facebook chat. (Though granted, few people take advantage of this potential!)
Does doing these things in front of a computer make me a less spiritual believer than someone who sells himself into slavery on a island of outcasts? When he says that we should compare our lives to the lives of others, he's right in some sense but he's also treading on thin ice! In fact, Scripture contains a warning about the exact opposite side of things in 2 Cor 10:12.
Whether the Lord calls you to be a garbage man or a missionary to Californian cannibalism convicts, you have license neither to boast of your calling nor to live in complacency and pleasure. I do spend a lot of time online, and I'm sorry to say that some of it is wasted. But I seem to manage to waste just as much time even when I'm nowhere near a computer. Maybe I should just stop wasting time, period! Isn't this the real issue?
We can see it when someone leaves everything behind for a life of suffering: the decision to deny oneself, take up the cross and follow Him. But in some sense, don't they have it easy? The daily decision to serve or deny the Lord is clear-cut. But those of us called to serve the Lord amid a world of surfeit and pleasure certainly also face a real uphill battle. We too must be real men and women of God!
If all your time on the Internet is a waste, then go ahead and get off the Internet. Don't let me stop the Lord from convicting you!
But if you must use the Internet, don't just say, "Mature servants of the Lord don't use the Internet. So as long as I'm on here, I might as well serve myself."
Rather, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." And "whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance: because you serve the Lord Christ." (Col 3:17, 23-24.)
Wherever you are, whatever you do, seek the Lord and His pleasure, not your own. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. Following Christ may take me to the computer or away from it. Am I willing to follow Him anywhere?
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Gen 3:6
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov 16:25
As a brother put it to me this evening, "My will always steers me wrong."
"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen 2:7
I want You more than gold or silver,
Only You can satisfy.
You alone are the real Joy Giver,
And the Apple of my eye.
The Lord seems to be bringing a lot of verses to my attention on this topic...
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." Heb 13:3
"For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;" Rom 1:9
"Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart;" Phil 1:7a
A brother mentioned to me last night how, when others are in need as Christ was in the garden, we should pray for them. And brother Isaac pointed something similar out in Amos 6:6. Among other things we can choose to meditate on, the Lord's people should hold a prominent place in our hearts and minds.
