Reflections on Lent, #7

To continue the hymn from a couple of days ago . . ..

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ, my God;

all the vain things that charm me most, 
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet, 
sorrow and love flow mingled down. 
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

or thorns compose so rich a crown. 

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

that were an offering far too small;

love so amazing, so divine,

 demands my soul, my life, my all.

The second stanza (first above) is a scripture, from the writings of Paul.

May the only glory in my life be the glory of the cross, which contradicts

all human ideas of glory--it is glory turned upside down.

All the vain things that charm me most.  I think that Isaac Watts wrote this

something like 250 years ago, or more.  How many more vain, charming things

do we have now?  Sacrificing those to his blood (not a word choice I would

make) seems too easy--why not sacrifice vain things that charm us?  Because

although we can dismiss them, intellectually, as vain, in our hearts, they

charm us.  If we really sacrificed them, we'd have to root them out of our

hearts as well as our minds.

I will comment on the third and fourth tomorrow.  I think this is one of the

most important hymns in terms of Easter.

partsofspeaking