Tuesday, July 15, 2025

It is the very nature of God!

This is a crucial theological point namely, that the sacrifice of Christ was not God’s reaction to human sin, but an inherent, original movement within God’s very being. It is in the very nature of God to offer God’s self sacrificially.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 247

Set apart, but what does it mean?

Set-apartness is not meant to encourage a sense of superiority on the part of God’s people; it is God who is superior, not his servants. The members of the community are not to look down their collective noses at the Canaanites floundering in their idolatry. If we take the whole grand sweep of the Old Testament into consideration, the ultimate design is for Israel to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 243 (emphasis original)

We're walking, walking, walking… (Tozer for Tuesday)

We cannot go to heaven any other way but by the simple, pedestrian way: walking by faith. The Lord does not talk about a flight of faith, nor does He talk about a tour of faith; He talks about a walk of faith.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 167

There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

579 There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

1 There shall be showers of blessing:
   This is the promise of love;
   There shall be seasons refreshing,
   Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain:
   Showers of blessing,
   Showers of blessing we need:
   Mercy-drops round us are falling,
   But for the showers we plead.

2 There shall be showers of blessing,
   Precious reviving again;
   Over the hills and the valleys,
   Sound of abundance of rain. [Refrain]

3 There shall be showers of blessing:
   Send them upon us, O Lord;
   Grant to us now a refreshing,
   Come and now honor Thy Word. [Refrain]

4 There shall be showers of blessing:
   Oh, that today they might fall,
   Now as to God we're confessing,
   Now as on Jesus we call! [Refrain]
                         Daniel W. Whittle
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Monday, July 14, 2025

You need a literary mind, not a literal one

One reason for the reaction against the sacrificial motif is surely the literal-mindedness of a culture unaccustomed to reading poetry. It is one of the peculiarities of our time that we support a vast entertainment industry specializing in ever more explicitly gory movies and video games while at the same time covering ourselves with a “politically correct” cloak of fastidious high-mindedness. In an earlier and perhaps in some ways more sophisticated time, Christians actually sang the words of poet William Cowper, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins,” with no sense of disgust. They were accustomed to extravagant literary images. It would not have occurred to them to take such a trope literally, any more than evangelical congregations do today when they sing “Power in the Blood.”—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 234

You are still enslaved

Atfluent communities need to understand. that they are enslaved by the pursuit of wealth, comfort, and status, often achieved at the expense of the poor.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 226

O Breath of Life

579 O Breath of Life

1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
   revive your church with life and pow'r;
   O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
   and fit your church to meet this hour.

2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
   till humbly we confess our need;
   then in your tenderness remake us,
   revive, restore, for this we plead.

3 O Breath of love, come breathe within us,
   renewing thought and will and heart;
   come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us,
   revive your church in ev'ry part.

4 O Heart of Christ, once broken for us,
   'tis there we find our strength and rest;
   our broken, contrite hearts now solace,
   and let your waiting church be blest.

5 Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
   while harvest fields are vast and white?
   Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
   equip your church to spread the light.
                         Bessie Porter Head
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Comparison

577 Comparison

Jesus Christ is unique, and one cannot be in His presence and not reveal the man he really is. Jesus pulls each person from behind his mask. In the exposure of that bleeding love on the cross, men become what they really are.

You may think you are wonderful until you stand in the presence of the One who is purity itself. It is the pure light of God that pierces a man. You can keep up your pretense of being holy until you stand in that light. Then immediately there is nowhere to hide, all your masks are torn away, all your hollow smiles fade. Revival means to be exposed for what we are. The presence of the Lord is revealing.
—Festo Kivengere
Hymns for the Family of God

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Revive us again!

574 Revive Us Again

1 We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,
   For Jesus who died and is now gone above.

Refrain:
   Hallelujah, Thine the glory!
   Hallelujah, Amen!
   Hallelujah, Thine the glory!
   Revive us again.

2 We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of light,
   Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. [Refrain]

3 All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
   Who has borne all our sins, and has cleansed ev'ry stain. [Refrain]

4 Revive us again– fill each heart with Thy love;
   May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. [Refrain]
                         William P. Mackay
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
I didn't grow up singing this hymn; it wasn't in any of the hymnbooks that our church used. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in college that I was exposed to it. And I immediately loved it and it's been one of my favorites ever since. Incidentally, it occurs in more than 1200 hymnals.
</idle musing>

Friday, July 11, 2025

Participants, not creators

The key apocalyptic idea, to be developed further in later chapters, is the sovereign intervention of God, with a corresponding displacement of the capacity of human beings to bring that intervention about. It must be said in the strongest possible terms: in no way does this emphasis on the divine agency mean that there is nothing for us to do, or that our activity is meaningless. What it means, rather, is that human activity points to the future reign of God and participates in it proleptically (prolepsis, “to anticipate”). It does not, however, make it come to fruition; only God can complete his purpose. At no time does the Bible suggest that we are, in the currently popular phrase, “co-creators with God”; rather, we are graciously called and moved to be participants in what God alone is able to create. The word “eschatology” does not necessarily make this distinction clear; it is possible to refer to the “last things” and thus speak eschatologically, without being careful to show that God alone will cause those last things to come to pass—the emphasis that is the hallmark of apocalyptic. The role of the people of God is <>participation in what God is already doing.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 222 (emphasis original)

A biblical memorial day

The Passover is to be observed as a “memorial day.” Biblically understood, this is a world removed from what we usually mean by “memorial.” Memory (remembrance) in biblical thought does not mean “calling to mind.” “Remembering” means present and active.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 217 (emphasis original)

Thank God for children

570 Thank God for Children

Children possess an uncanny ability to cut to the core of the issue, to expose life to the bone, and strip away the barnacles that cling to the hull of our too sophisticated pseudo-civilization. One reason for this, I believe, is that children have not mastered our fine art of deception, that we call “finesse.” Another is that they are so “lately come from God” that faith and trust are second nature to them. They have not acquired the obstructions to faith that come with education; they possess instead unrefined wisdom, a gift from God.
—Gloria Gaither
Hymns for the Family of God

Thursday, July 10, 2025

More on the importance of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

Throughout the New Testament, a thorough knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly the Law and the Prophets, and a commitment to their authority as Word of God are simply presupposed.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 215

The importance of the First Testament (as Goldingay calls it)

The current state of neglect of the Old Testament in the churches is cause for great concern. In attempting to understand what the Bible is saying to us about the crucifixion of the Son of God, it is essential that we listen carefully, with understanding, to the many voices that come to us from the history of Israel.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 214

<idle musing>
This has been a concern of mine and many other Old Testament/Hebrew Bible scholars for years. The church has always had a Marcionite tendency, but it does seem to have increased in the last 15–20 years.

Whether or not it's worse than it was in the 1950–1970s, I can't say. I do remember when I was growing up in the 1960s/1970s that more than a few people downplayed the value of knowing the Old Testament. But without knowledge of the Old Testament, how can you understand the full scope of God's plan for humanity and the world?

That has always baffled me. Especially when I read Hebrews, I wonder how people who don't have more than a (very) passing acquaintance with the Old Testament can even begin to understand what's going on. But that is also true of most of the New Testament.
</idle musing>

One Solitary Life

566 One Solitary Life

Born in an obscure village, He was the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty years old, and then for three years He travelled around the country, stopping long enough to talk and to listen to people, and help where He could. He never wrote a book, He never had a hit record, He never went to college, He never ran for public office, He never had a family, or owned a house. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself But when He was only thirty-three years old, the tide of public opinion turned against Him, and His friends all rejected Him. When He was arrested, very few wanted anything to do with Him. After the trial, He was executed by the State along with admitted thieves. Only because a generous friend offered his own cemetery plot was there any place to bury Him. This all happened nineteen centuries ago, and yet today He is the leading figure of the human race, and the ultimate example of love. Now it is no exaggeration to say that all the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever set sail, all the rulers that have ever ruled, all the kings that have ever reigned on this earth, all put together have not affected the life of man on earth like this One Solitary Life.
—Fred Bock (alt. )
Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
This was a pretty popular saying in the 1970s. If I recall correctly, the first time I heard it was on a the Gaither Alleluia! A Praise Gathering for Believers album (1973). But it rapidly spread.
<idle musing>

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

The Story

Overly rationalistic “theories” force the pictorial, poetic, and narrative structures of the Bible into restrictive categories. Even the writings of Paul, often construed as dry doctrine over against the more accessible stories of the Gospels, are for the most part urgently contextual. Paul is a man on a battlefield. He is a man seized by the gospel story, or, more accurately, by the Lord of the story. The fact that Paul has made the story into a sword of the Word to be wielded against the enemies of the gospel in specific situations, rather than retelling stories about Jesus’ life, does not make his preaching any less firmly grounded in The Story.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 211

As the world turns…

In some ways, however, it is becoming more difficult to close our eyes to reality. We are beginning to see more clearly now that children who rape and murder seem to be getting younger and younger, that no school or church seems to be safe from gunfire, that the Internet has greatly increased our capacity to share lethal information. Too many clergy have been arrested for child molestation, too many teachers have been caught sexually abusing students, too many supposedly upstanding citizens have downloaded too much child pornography. There is something sickening in human nature, and it corresponds precisely to the sickening aspects of crucifixion. The hideousness of crucifixion summons us to put away sentimentality and face up to the ugliness that lies just under the surface. The scandal, the outrage of the cross, is commensurate with the offense and the ubiquity of sin. Views of atonement wrought by Christ that do not acknowledge the gravity of Sin are untruthful in two respects: they are untruthful about the human condition, and they are untruthful about the witness of Holy Scripture, Old and New Testament alike. Sin is the colossal X-factor in human life. It is not something we do so much as it is something done to us by our mortal foe, the alien Power that has lured us into becoming its agents. There is no room for sentiment here; the stakes are too high. The cross rears up over all human life because it is the scene of God’s climactic battle against the power of a malignant and implacable Enemy.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 197

Blest Be the Tie That Binds

560 Blest Be the Tie That Binds

1 Blest be the tie that binds
   our hearts in Christian love;
   the fellowship of kindred minds
   is like to that above.

2 Before our Father's throne
   we pour our ardent prayers;
   our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
   our comforts and our cares.

3 We share our mutual woes,
   our mutual burdens bear,
   and often for each other flows
   the sympathizing tear.

4 From sorrow, toil, and pain,
   and sin, we shall be free;
   and perfect love and friendship reign
   through all eternity.
                         John Fawcett
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Wow. Most hymns I've been posting lately have only occurred in at most a couple hundred hymnals. This one clocks in at more than 2300!

Hymnary.org inserts couple of verses:

4 When we are called to part,
   it gives us inward pain;
   but we shall still be joined in heart,
   and hope to meet again.

5 This glorious hope revives
   our courage by the way;
   while each in expectation lives
   and waits to see the day.

By the way, I've mentioned it before, but you really should read the author's biography in the link above. I doubt very many pastors today would respond the way he did to a better offer elsewhere...
</idle musing>

Tuesday, July 08, 2025

The Bible as R-rated?

Beginning with the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, we are given a full picture of human noninnocence. We have seen so many Sunday school pictures of dutiful children in biblical garb that we forget how utterly unblinking the Scriptures are about human nature. Far from being a collection of inspirational stories, the Old Testament is replete with unedifying R-rated tales of every conceivable kind of crime and villainy, much of it committed by men and women of God’s own choosing.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 196

Grace drives the sequence from first to last

It is surely no accident that Paul the Pharisee eschews all talk of repentance in his letters. He distances himself from any concept of repentance preceding, or being necessary for, the setting-aside (or “weakening,” in some versions) of God’s “severe decree.” At the risk of oversimplifying, for Paul the sequence is not sin-repentance-grace-forgiveness, but grace-sin- deliverance-repentance-grace. Grace drives the sequence from first to last.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 192

Tozer for Tuesday

Weed: The Father and the Son Love Us in Different Degrees

Then there is the teaching that Christ won God over to our side by dying for us. Some people imagine that. I have heard evangelists tell about an angry God with His sword raised to destroy a sinning man, and Jesus rushes in and the sword falls on His head. He died and the sinner lived. It might be good drama, but its very poor theology, for there is not a word of truth in it. The Father “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). And it was the love of the Father that sent the Son to die for mankind.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 157

Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine

559 Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine

1 Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine,
   On these baptismal waters shine,
   And teach our hearts, in highest strain,
   To praise the Lamb, for sinners slain.

2 We love Thy name, we love Thy laws,
   And joyfully embrace Thy cause;
   We love Thy cross, the shame, the pain,
   O Lamb of God, for sinners slain.

3 We sink beneath Thy mystic flood;
   O bathe us in Thy cleansing blood;
   We die to sin, and seek a grave,
   With Thee, beneath the yielding wave.

4 And as we rise, with Thee to live,
   O let the Holy Spirit give
   The sealing unction from above,
   The breath of life, the fire of love.
                         Adoniram Judson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Monday, July 07, 2025

Sin? Not what you think…

To be in sin, biblically speaking, means something very much more consequential than wrongdoing; it means being catastrophically separated from the eternal love of God. It means to be on the other side of an impassable barrier of exclusion from God’s heavenly banquet. It means to be helplessly trapped inside one’s own worst self, miserably aware of the chasm between the way we are and the way God intends us to be. It means the continuation of the reign of greed, cruelty, rapacity, and violence throughout the world. In view of God’s nature, it is impossible that this state of affairs would be allowed to continue forever. Once we come to know God in Jesus Christ, we can no longer imagine the Father’s joyful banquet continuing into all eternity with the elder brother still standing outside looking in, imprisoned forever in his envy and resentment (Luke 15:25-32). This whole line of thinking exemplifies what we have been saying for several pages now, namely, that we cannot talk about sin for very long without being drawn into doxology. Were it not for the mercy of God surrounding us, we would have no perspective from which to view sin, for we would be entirely subject to it.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 174

More on prevenient grace

God is moving upon a person’s heart before the person even realizes what is happening. In presenting the gospel, then, we do not begin by attempting to convict people of sin. The movement of God’s prevenient (“going-before”) mercy comes first, in the disclosure of the presence of God, which then awakens the sense of sin by exposing the chasm between us and the holiness of God. When this recognition dawns on us, we are already standing within God’s grace (“this grace in which we stand” - Rom. 5:2). This is another way of explaining why the confession of sin can come as such a blessed relief.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 174 (emphasis original)

A Prayer for Unity

549 Prayer for Unity

Our Father, we thank You for the privilege of being together at this time and in this place.

As Your people, we pray that Your love will unite us into a fellowship of discovery.

Cleanse us of everything that would sap our strength for togetherness.

Unravel the knots in our spirits,
Cleanse the error of our minds.
Free as from the bondage of our negative imaginations.
Break down the barriers that sometimes keep us apart and cause us to drift along without a dream.

As we go from here-
Explode in us new possibilities for service.
Kindle within us the fires of Your compassion so that we may not wait too long to learn to love.

May we be a people with loving purposes-
Reaching out. . .
Breaking walls. . .
Building bridges. . .
Let us be Your alleluia in a joyless, fragmented world.

In the name of our Lord, we pray.
Amen
—Champ Taylor
Hymns for the Family of God

Sunday, July 06, 2025

The world needs men

. . . who cannot be bought;
. . . whose word is their bond;
. . . who put character above wealth;
. . . who are larger than their vocations;
. . . who do not hesitate to take chances;
. . . who will not lose their identity in a crowd;
. . . who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
. . . who will make no compromise with wrong;
. . . whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
. . . who will not say they do it “because everybody else does it;”
. . . who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
. . . who do not believe that shrewdness and cunning are the best qualities for winning success;
. . . who are not ashamed to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
. . . who can say “no” with emphasis, although the rest of the world says “yes.”

God, make me this kind of man.
                         —Leonard Wagner
                         Hymns for the Family of God, #531

<idle musing>
Sadly, those kind of men have always been in short supply. And it seems they are in even shorter supply today than ever...

Just an
</idle musing>

Saturday, July 05, 2025

O Perfect Love

530 O Perfect Love

1 O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
   Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
   That theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
   Whom Thou for evermore dost join in one.

2 O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance
   Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
   Of patient hope, and quiet, brave endurance,
   With child-like trust that fears no pain nor death.

3 Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow,
   Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
   And to life's day the glorious, unknown morrow
   That dawns upon eternal love and life.
                         Dorothy Gurney
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Friday, July 04, 2025

A prayer for the Fourth

527 Answered Prayer

I asked God for strength,
     that I might achieve,
I was made weak,
     that I might learn humbly to obey . . .

I asked for health,
     that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity,
     that I might do better things . . .

I asked for riches,
     that I might be happy,
I was given poverty,
     that I might be wise . . .

I asked for power,
     that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness,
     that I might feel the need of God . . .

I asked for all things,
     that I might enjoy life,
I was given life,
     that I might enjoy all things . . .

I got nothing that I asked for-
but everything I had hoped for;
     Almost despite myself,
      my unspoken prayers were answered.
         I am among all men most richly blessed.
—Unknown Confederate Soldier
Hymns for the Family of God

Thursday, July 03, 2025

Lord of the Dance

The analogy to the cantatas of Bach, with their combination of grief-stricken laments and ecstatic dance forms, is this: participation in Christ means abandoning our pretenses, openly acknowledging our identities as sinners in bondage, and in the same moment realizing with a stab of piercing joy that the victory is already ours in Christ, won by him who died to save us. The action of God’s grace precedes our consciousness of sin, so that we perceive the depth of our own participation in sin’s bondage simultaneously with the recognition of the unconditional love of Christ, which is perfect freedom. We recognize that love, moreover, not from the depths of the hell we were bent on creating for ourselves, but from the perspective of the heaven that God is preparing for us. In the victorious presence of the crucified and risen One, the whole company of the redeemed will throw off every bond and join in a celebration of mutual love and joy where no one will be a wallflower and everyone will be able to dance like Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson combined. Thus “Lord of the Dance” is truly an apt title for the risen Christ and for the kingdom of God.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 171 (emphasis original)

A Benediction

524 Benediction

May the Lord take from you all resistance to His will.
May He give to you the fullness of His life and the sufficiency of His practical, daily help.
May the Lord send you during this week to come to those He can only serve through your unique experience of life and your very special
abilities.
May the Lord bring us together even when we are apart, as we learn to be supportive of one another in our prayers and our service. Amen.
—Bryan Jeffery Leech
Hymns for the Family of God

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

Prevenient (love that word!) love

There is no way of taking the Bible seriously unless we are willing to entertain its presuppositions about sin, especially Sin in the singular. This is a catch-22 of sorts, because it is not possible to have a grasp of one’s own involvement in sin without a prior or simultaneous awareness of God’s prevenient love (Latin pre-venere, “going-before”). We need to recover that word “prevenient” because no other word or phrase captures so well the essential fact about grace: it prevenes (goes before), or precedes, recognition of sin, precedes confession of sin, precedes repentance for sin, and precedes forsaking of sin. Readers of this book are already held by God’s gracious intention toward them, whether they know themselves as sinners or not.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 168 (emphasis original)

An ancient prayer

521 Ancient Prayer

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing. Amen.
—Ancient Prayer
Hymns for the Family of God

Tuesday, July 01, 2025

And there isn't a split in the Trinity, either!

In our preaching, teaching, and learning we must emphatically reject any interpretation that divides the will of the Father from that of the Son, or suggests that anything is going on that does not proceed out of love. As we shall see again and again, God’s justice and God’s mercy both issue forth from his single will of eternal love.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 163

There isn't any split!

God is a God of judgment and a God of grace. Both judgment and grace are in the New Testament. And both judgment and grace are in the Old Testament. God is always the same, without change: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 156

Give Your Best to the Master

516 Give Your Best to the Master

1. Give of your best to the Master;
   Give of the strength of your youth;
   Throw your soul’s fresh, glowing ardor
   Into the battle for truth.
   Jesus has set the example,
   Dauntless was He, young and brave;
   Give Him your loyal devotion;
   Give Him the best that you have.

Refrain:
   Give of your best to the Master;
   Give of the strength of your youth;
   Clad in salvation’s full armor,
   Join in the battle for truth.

2. Give of your best to the Master;
   Give Him first place in your heart;
   Give Him first place in your service;
   Consecrate every part.
   Give, and to you will be given;
   God His beloved Son gave;
   Gratefully seeking to serve Him,
   Give Him the best that you have.

3. Give of your best to the Master;
   Naught else is worthy His love;
   He gave Himself for your ransom,
   Gave up His glory above.
   Laid down His life without murmur,
   You from sin’s ruin to save;
   Give Him your heart’s adoration,
   Give Him the best that you have.
                         Howard B. Grosse
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Monday, June 30, 2025

Anselm and honor

Anselm means something very different by “honor” than we are readily equipped to understand without effort. God is not a tin-pot dictator obsessed with his privileges. On the contrary, the Trinitarian movement that Anselm always has in mind is described in Philippians 2:5-7: “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied (Greek root kenosis) himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” God’s honor is God’s righteousness, his holiness, his perfection — but it is also his love and freedom, which show themselves in the kenotic self-emptying of the Son.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 156

True Charity

514 True Charity

C. S. Lewis didn’t talk about percent giving.
He said the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
He said our charities should pinch and hamper us.

If we live at the same level of affluence
as other people who have our level of income,
we are probably giving away too little.

Obstacles to charity include
greed for luxurious living,
greed for money itself,
fear of financial insecurity,
and showy pride.

                        —Kathryn Ann Lindskoog
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Little Is Much, When God Is in It

512 Little Is Much, When God Is in It

1 In the harvest field now ripened
   There’s a work for all to do;
   Hark! the voice of God is calling
   To the harvest calling you.

Refrain:
   Little is much when God is in it,
   Labor not for wealth or fame;
   There’s a crown, and you can win it,
   If you go in Jesus’ name.

2 Does the place you’re called to labor
   Seem too small and little known?
   It is great if God is in it,
   And He’ll not forget His own. [Refrain]

3 When the conflict here is ended
   And our race on earth is run,
   He will say, if we are faithful,
   "Welcome home, My child, well done!" [Refrain]
                         Mrs. F. W. Suffield
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Make us worthy (prayer)

506 Make Us Worthy
Make us worthy, Lord,
to serve our fellow men thoughout the world
who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them, through our hands, this day
their daily bread, and by our understanding love give Peace and Joy.

Lord, make a channel of Thy peace,
that where there is hatred I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord,
grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand than to be understood;
to love than to be loved;
for it is by forgetting self that one finds;
is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.
                         Mother Teresa
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Friday, June 27, 2025

Justice serves mercy

A psychoanalyst once explained to me that “the negative moment [in therapy] is in the service of the positive moment.” This conviction underlies a great deal of what appears in these pages concerning the justice and mercy of God. God’s justice is always in the service of his mercy.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 154 n. 18

After a bit of fame? Read this

503 Glorifying God in the Everyday

The wonder of the Incarnation slips into the Life of ordinary childhood; the marvel of the Transfiguration descends to the valley and the demon-possessed boy, and the glory of the Resurrection merges into Our Lord providing breakfast for His disciples on the sea shore in the early dawn. The tendency in early Christian experience is to look for the marvellous. We are apt to mistake the sense of the heroic for being heroes. It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but a different thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying the remotest attention to you. If we don’t want medieval haloes, we want something that will make people say-What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a pious, devoted woman she is! If anyone says that of you, you have not been loyal to God.—Oswald Chambers
Hymns for the Family of God

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Expand your understanding!

When we read of the righteousness of God, it also means the justice of God, and, most important, it means the action of God in making conditions and relationships right. “Righteousness” has the force of a verb rather than a noun; it is not a static quality but a continual going-out in power to effect what it requires. Nor is it an abstraction; it can only be understood in the context of the community called into being by God, which is itself the image, however flawed, of the new humanity. This understanding of the righteousness of God affords a greatly enlarged perspective on the cross and resurrection.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 144 (emphasis original)

Peace and abiding

499 Peace

I know not what I shall become: it seems to me that peace of soul and repose of spirit descend on me, even in sleep. To be without the sense of this peace, would be affliction indeed. . . .

I know not what God purposes with me, or keeps me for; I am in a calm so great that I fear naught. What can I fear, when I am with Him: and with Him, in His Presence, I hold myself the most I can. May all things praise Him. Amen.
                        —Brother Lawrence
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

A just peace

Peace without justice is an illusory peace that sets the stage for vengeful behavior later on. The strength to persevere in the struggle is found in knowing that the wounds remaining in human society after great atrocities are the wounds of Christ himself, now risen and reigning but still the Lamb standing yet slain (Rev. 5:6).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 143 (emphasis original)

Through the Love of God, Our Savior

498 Through the Love of God, Our Savior

1 Through the love of God, our Saviour,
   all will be well.
   Free and changeless is his favour;
   all, all is well.
   Precious is the blood that healed us,
   perfect is the grace that sealed us,
   strong the hand stretched forth to shield us;
   all must be well.

2 Though we pass through tribulation,
   all will be well.
   Ours is such a full salvation,
   all, all is well.
   Happy still in God confiding,
   fruitful, if in Christ abiding,
   holy, through the Spirit’s guiding;
   all must be well.

3 We expect a bright tomorrow;
   all will be well.
   Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
   'All, all is well.'
   On our Father’s love relying,
   Jesus every need supplying,
   in our living, in our dying,
   all must be well.
                         Mary Peters
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
This hymn seemed familiar to me, even though it only occurs in about 150 hymnals. Once I read the biography, I saw why. It was included in some Plymouth Brethren hymnals. I'm sure that's where I sang it, as I was involved in a PB-style church for a few years.
</idle musing

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

It's not just the victims!

We arrive at a point that is all too rarely acknowledged. In the final analysis, the crucifixion of Christ for the sin of the world reveals that it is not only the victims of oppression and injustice who are in need of God’s deliverance, but also the victimizers. Each of us is capable, under certain circumstances, of being a victimizer.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 141 (emphasis original)

Tozer for Tuesday

Weed: Christ Is for Us, God Is against Us

Some say that Christ the Son differs from the God the Father. That is one weed I want you to pull out of your mind, never allowing it to grow there. The misconception is that Christ is for us and God is against us. Never was there any truth in that at all. Christ, being God, is for us. And the Father, being God, is for us. And the Holy Ghost, being God, is for us. The Trinity is for us. It was because the Father was for us that the Son came to die for us. The reason that God is for us is why the Son is at the right hand of God now, pleading for us. The Holy Spirit is in our hearts. He is our advocate within. Christ is our advocate above. And all agree. There is no disagreement between the Father and the Son over man.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 155–56

Like a River Glorious

497 Like a River Glorious

1. Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,
   Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
   Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
   Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Refrain:
   Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
   Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

2. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
   Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
   Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
   Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

3. Every joy or trial falleth from above,
   Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
   We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
   They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.
                         Frances Havergal
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Monday, June 23, 2025

Apocalyptic theology in a nutshell

The central theme is not “justice” in the older sense of the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked; it is the coming triumph of God independent of anything human beings can do “either good or bad” (Rom. 9:11). Postexilic Isaiah delivers an astonishing rebuke to the traditional distinction between the righteous and the wicked with these words: “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6 KJV).

Summing up this brief overview, “apocalyptic” theology can be defined on the simplest level as the thought-world that emerged among the Hebrew people after the exile, in which the human situation is seen as so tragic and insoluble that the only hope for deliverance is from outside this sphere altogether.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 140

<idle musing>
A translation note on Isa 64:6: It is very probable that the "filthy rags" are used mentrual rags.

Wrap your head around this: Your righteousness is like walking into the presence of God and waving used tampons™ in his face and expecting a reward.
</idle musing>

It Is Well with My Soul (When Peace, Like a River)

495 It Is Well with My Soul

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain:
   It is well with my soul,
   It is well, it is well with my soul.

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
   My sin, not in part but the whole,
   Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

4. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
   The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
   The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
   Even so, it is well with my soul.
                         Horatio G. Spafford
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
I can't believe I haven't posted this one yet! It's one of my favorite hymns. I guess it just doesn't appear in any Methodist hymnals. And it does appear in fewer hymnals than I would have expected, just a few over 500.

Take a minute to read the biography at the link above. I was familiar with the story about the hymn, but I didn't know he and his wife were founders of the American Colony in Jerusalem, or that their adopted son was the one who discovered the Siloam Inscription!

Hymnary.org adds a couple of verse that I wasn't familiar with (read the biography above; it appears they are later additions):

4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
   If Jordan above me shall roll,
   No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
   Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

</idle musing>

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Thought for the day

6 I’ve lived far too long
     with people who hate peace.
7 I’m for peace,
     but when I speak, they are for war.
Ps 120:6–7 (CEB)

Wonderful Peace (hymn)

494 Wonderful Peace

1 Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight,
   Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
   In celestial like strains it unceasingly falls
   O'er my soul like an infinite calm.

Chorus:
   Peace! peace! wonderful peace,
   Coming down from the Father above;
   Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
   In fathomless billows of love.

2 What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
   Buried deep in my innermost soul;
   So secure that no power can mine it away,
   While the years of eternity roll! [Chorus]

3 I am resting to-night in this wonderful peace,
   Resting sweetly in Jesus' control;
   I am kept from all danger by night and by day,
   And his glory is flooding my soul. [Chorus]

4 I believe when I rise to that city of peace,
   Where the Author of peace I shall see,
   That one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing,
   In that heavenly kingdom will be, [Chorus]

5 Weary soul, without gladness or comfort or rest,
   Passing down the rough pathway of time!
   Make the Saviour your friend ere the shadows grow dark;
   O accept of this peace so sublime. [Chorus]
                         W. D. Cornell
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Psalm 83 (paraphrased)

490 Psalm 83

I am so depressed tonight, O God.
I feel as if I am the sole target of an enemy barrage —that all the demons of hell are bent upon damning my soul for eternity.

I remember Your precious promises, but I do not witness their fulfillment.
I talk to people about Your love, and they drown my zeal with scorn.
I step forth to carry out Your will, but I feel no sense of accomplishment.
I mouth words, wave my arms, and beat the air with fruitless endeavor.
Then I fall like a wounded warrior, bone-weary, defeated, and lonely.
And I wonder if You are truly my God, and if I am really Your child.

Consume, O God, these demons that depress, these enemies that plague my soul.
May the whirlwind of Your Spirit sweep them out of my life forever.
May I awaken in the morning with a heart full of joy, and with the strength and the courage to walk straight and secure in the dangerous and difficult paths before me.
                         —Leslie Brandt
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Wow. This paraphrase really speaks to me. It's so raw and real. No wonder people have been drawn to the psalms for thousands of years. They aren't afraid to be real with God. May I be that honest with him!
</idle musing>

Friday, June 20, 2025

In spite of our resistance…

When we read in the Old Testament that God is just and righteous, this doesn’t refer to a threatening abstract quality that God has over against us. It is much more like a verb than a noun, because it refers to the power of God to make right what has been wrong. That in itself sounds inoffensive enough, but the radical message underlying it, and the one we resist, is that God does this right-making in spite of our resistance.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 134 (emphasis original)

Real Prayer

484 Real Prayer

The prayer preceding all prayer is,
"May it be the real I who speaks.
May it be the real Thou
that I speak to."
   C. S. Lewis
   Hymns for the Family of God

Thursday, June 19, 2025

"Right relationship"

Perhaps the most succinct thing we can say against “right relationship” as an adequate definition of righteousness is that it is not a verb! The most important thing to remember about the righteousness of God is that it is the powerful action of God in making right. “Righteousness in the Old Testament is not some ontological state of cosmic harmony, but an event inaugurated by God’s intervention in the world for the sake of humanity and rendered according to the divine will” (Brevard Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993], 490).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 134 n. 61 (emphasis original)

May the Mind of Christ, My Savior

483 May the Mind of Christ, My Savior

1 May the mind of Christ my Savior
   Live in me from day to day,
   By his love and pow'r inspiring
   All I do or say.

2 May the Word of God dwell richly
   In my heart from hour to hour,
   So that all may see I triumph
   Only through his pow'r.

3 May the peace of God my Father
   Rule my life in ev'rything,
   That I may be calm to comfort
   Sick and sorrowing.

4 May the love of Jesus fill me
   As the waters fill the sea,
   Him exalting, self abasing --
   This is victory!

5 May I run the race before me,
   Strong and brave to face the foe,
   Looking only unto Jesus
   As I onward go.

6 May his spirit live within me
   As I seek the lost to win,
   And may they forget the channel,
   Seeing only him.
                         Kate B. WWilkinson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

A different kind of outrage

Where is the outrage? It is God’s own; it is the wrath of God against all that stands against his redemptive purpose. It is not an emotion; it is God’s righteous activity in setting right what is wrong. It is God’s intervention on behalf of those who cannot help themselves.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 132 (emphasis original)

O To Be Like Thee

480 O To Be Like Thee

1 O to be like Thee! Blessed Redeemer,
   this is my constant longing and prayer;
   gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
   Jesus Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Refrain:
   Oh! to be like Thee! O to be like Thee,
   blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!
   Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
   stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

2 O to be like Thee! Full of compassion,
   loving, forgiving, tender, and kind;
   helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
   seeking the wand’ring sinner to find. [Refrain]

3 O to be like Thee! Lowly in spirit,
   holy and harmless, patient, and brave;
   meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
   willing to suffer, others to save. [Refrain]

4 O to be like Thee! Lord, I am coming
   now to receive th’anointing divine;
   all that I am and have I am bringing,
   Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine. [Refrain]

5 O to be like Thee! While I am pleading,
   pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
   make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
   fit me for life and heaven above. [Refrain]
                         Thomas O. Chisholm
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Tozer for Tuesday

Unfortunately, many Christians settle for less than God’s conscious, manifest presence in their daily walk. There is a strain of loneliness infecting many Christians, which only the presence of God can cure. Why do so many Christians shy away from the holy presence of God? God’s face (His realized, manifested and enjoyed presence) may be the treasure of all God’s people.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 146

Fill Thou My Life, O Lord My God

479 Fill Thou My Life, O Lord My God

1 Fill thou my life, O Lord my God,
   in every part with praise,
   that my whole being may proclaim
   thy being and thy ways.

2 Not for the lip of praise alone,
   nor e'en the praising heart
   I ask, but for a life made up
   of praise in every part:

3 Praise in the common things of life,
   its goings out and in;
   praise in each duty and each deed,
   however small and mean.

4 Fill every part of me with praise:
   let all my being speak
   of thee and of thy love, O Lord,
   poor though I be and weak.

5 So shalt thou, Lord, receive from me
   the praise and glory due;
   and so shall I begin on earth
   the song for ever new.

6 So shall no part of day or night
   unblest or common be,
   but all my life, in every step,
   be fellowship with thee.
                         Horatius Bonar
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn, only occurring in about 100 hymnals. Hymnary.org inserts a verse:

6 So shall each fear, each fret, each care,
   be turned into song;
   and every winding of the way
   the echo shall prolong.
</idle musing>

Monday, June 16, 2025

Injustice is real! Suffering is real! God is real!

The Dalai Lama has been an admirable symbol of courage around the world and continues to trouble the Chinese Communist regime with his steadfast presence and his hold on his people and their aspirations. His inability or unwillingness to integrate injustice and suffering with his worldview, however, limits him. It is interesting to contrast him with his friend Desmond Tutu. Both of them have famous laughs. As has been noted by several observers, however, the Dalai Lama often uses his laugh to deflect attention from unpleasant subjects. He and Tutu are friends, but Tutu never laughs in that way. His laugh is an eschatological sign of God’s triumph over evil. He has felt the intensity of the struggle in his bones in a way that does not appear either in the demeanor or in the writings of the Dalai Lama. For him, suffering is the way to compassion, which is the way to happiness and the cessation of suffering. His teaching often sounds as if suffering and compassion were not connected to actual suffering human beings at all, but are stages along the way to personal happiness and even “achieving one’s goals.” Dalai Lama, with Howard C. Cutler, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living (New York: Riverhead Books, 1998), 128-30, 228, 310, and various other passages throughout.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 124 n. 40

More about Jesus Would I Know

477 More about Jesus Would I Know

1 More about Jesus would I know,
   more of His grace to others show;
   more of His saving fullness see,
   more of His love who died for me.

Refrain:
   More, more about Jesus;
   more, more about Jesus;
   more of His saving fullness see,
   more of His love who died for me.

2 More about Jesus let me learn,
   more of His holy will discern.
   Spirit of God, my Teacher be,
   showing the things of Christ to me. [Refrain]

3 More about Jesus in His Word,
   holding communion with my Lord,
   hearing His voice in ev'ry line,
   making each faithful saying mine. [Refrain]

4 More about Jesus on His throne,
   riches in glory all His own;
   more of His kingdom's sure increase;
   more of His coming, Prince of Peace. [Refrain]
                         Eliza E. Hewitt
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Take a minute to click through to the biography of the hymnwriter.
</idle musing>

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Make Me a Blessing

473 Make Me a Blessing

1 Out in the highways and byways of life,
   Many are weary and sad;
   Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,
   Making the sorrowing glad.

Refrain:
   Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing.
   Out of my life may Jesus shine;
   Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.
   Make me a blessing to someone today.

2 Tell the sweet story of Christ and his love,
   Tell of his pow'r to forgive;
   Others will trust him if only you prove
   True, ev'ry moment you live. [Refrain]

3 Give as 'twas given to you in your need,
   Love as the Master loved you;
   Be to the helpless a helper indeed,
   Unto your mission be true. [Refrain]
                         Ira B. Wilson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Saturday, June 14, 2025

A Teacher's Prayer

471 The Teacher

Lord, who am I to teach the way
To little children day by day,
So prone myself to go astray?

I teach them knowledge, but I know
How faint they flicker,and how low
The candles of my knowledge glow.

I teach them power to will and do,
But only now to learn anew
My own great weakness through and through.

I teach them love for all mankind
And all God’s creatures, but I find
My love comes lagging far behind.

Lord, if their guide I still must be,
O let the little children see
The teacher leaning hard on Thee.
                         Leslie Pinckney Hill
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Friday, June 13, 2025

Forgiveness is complicated

We have ranged across a wide territory to show that forgiveness is not a simple matter. If we think of Christian theology and ethics purely in terms of forgiveness, we will have neglected a central aspect of God’s own character and will be in no position to understand the cross in its fullest dimension. God’s new creation must be a just one, or the promises of God will seem like mockery to those whose defenselessness has been exploited by the powerful. Furthermore, if we fail to take account of God’s justice, we will miss the extraordinary way in which it is recast in the New Testament kerygma.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 131

Higher Ground

469 Higher Ground

1 I'm pressing on the upward way,
   New heights I'm gaining every day;
   Still praying as I onward bound,
   Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Refrain:
   Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
   By faith, on Heaven's table land;
   A higher plane than I have found;
   Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

2 My heart has no desire to stay
   Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
   Tho' some may dwell where these abound,
   My pray'r, my aim is higher ground.

3 I want to live above the world,
   Though Satan's darts at me are hurled;
   For faith has caught the joyful sound,
   The song of saints on higher ground.

4 I want to scale the utmost height,
   And catch a gleam of glory bright;
   But still I'll pray till Heav'n I've found,
   Lord, lead me on to higher ground.
                         Johnson Oatman Jr.
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Giving a voice to the voiceless

It makes many people queasy nowadays to talk about the wrath of God, but there can be no turning away from this prominent biblical theme. Oppressed peoples around the world have been empowered by the scriptural picture of a God who is angered by injustice and unrighteousness. The humor and exuberance of a freedom fighter like Desmond Tutu are evoked, fueled, and sustained by the conviction that God is on the side of those who are defenseless and voiceless, who have no powerful friends, who are abused and oppressed by the system.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 129

Take Thou Our Minds, Dear Lord

467 Take Thou Our Minds, Dear Lord

1 Take thou our minds, dear Lord, we humbly pray;
   give us the mind of Christ each passing day;
   teach us to know the truth that sets us free;
   grant us in all our thoughts to honor thee.

2 Take thou our hearts, O Christ; they are thine own;
   come thou within our souls and claim thy throne;
   help us to shed abroad thy deathless love;
   use us to make the earth like heaven above.

3 Take thou our wills, Most High! Hold thou full sway;
   have in our inmost souls thy perfect way;
   guard thou each sacred hour from selfish ease;
   guide thou our ordered lives as thou dost please.

4 Take thou ourselves, O Lord, heart, mind, and will;
   through our surrendered souls thy plans fulfill.
   We yield ourselves to thee: time, talents, all;
   we hear, and henceforth heed, thy sovereign call.
                         William Hiram Foulkes
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

The essence of Christianity

Forgiveness in and of itself is not the essence of Christianity, though many believe it to be so. Forgiveness must be understood in its relationsliip to justice if the Christian gospel is to be allowed its full scope. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has said, “Forgiveness is not cheap, is not facile. It is costly. Reconciliation is not an easy option. It cost God the death of his Son.”—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 115 (emphasis original)

Liberation from Materialism (prayer)

464 Liberation from Materialism

Forbid it, Lord, that our roots become too firmly attached to this earth, that we should fall in love with things.

Help us to understand that the pilgrimage of this life is but an introduction, a preface a training school for what is to come.

Then shall we see all of life in its true perspective. Then shall we not fall in love with the things of time, but come to love the things that endure. Then shall we be saved from the tyranny of possessions which we have no leisure to enjoy, of property whose care becomes a burden. Give us, we pray, the courage to simplify our lives.

So may we be mature in our faith, childlike but never childish, humble but never cringing, understanding but never conceited.

So help us, O God, to live and not merely to exist, that we may have joy in our work. In Thy name, who alone can give us moderation and balance and zest for living, we pray. Amen.
                         Peter Marshall
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Justice, mercy, and forgiveness

The well-known passage in Micah 6:8 (“What does the Lord require of you . . . ?”) declares that justice and mercy are two foundational aspects of God’s character. Working out the relation between the two is an essential task of Christian theology, preaching, and pastoral care. In our own time this has become a particularly pressing question. There is a widespread impression that Christian forgiveness can be construed separately from the question of justice — that, in fact, forgiveness can be offered without reference to justice. However, forgiveness is by no means as simple or expeditious as is often suggested; it is a complex and demanding matter. The question of forgiveness and compensation really should not be discussed apart from the question of justice. When a terrible wrong has been committed and an apology is offered, the person or persons wronged may be justified in feeling that too much is being asked of them. If the impression is given that the wronged parties are simply supposed to “forgive and forget,” the wrong will linger under the surface and cause further harm.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 114

Tozer for Tuesday

The ordinary Chtistian is satisfied to live just a little removed from the presence of God. God has always had His David, His Paul, His Stephen and those who would die to taste what one man calls the piercing sweetness of the love of God.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 145–46

Living for Jesus (Hymn)

462 Living for Jesus

1. Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
   Striving to please Him in all that I do;
   Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
   This is the pathway of blessing for me.

Refrain:
   O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
   For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
   I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
   My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.

2. Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
   Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;
   Such love constrains me to answer His call,
   Follow His leading and give Him my all.

3. Living for Jesus, wherever I am,
   Doing each duty in His holy Name;
   Willing to suffer affliction and loss,
   Deeming each trial a part of my cross.

4. Living for Jesus through earth’s little while,
   My dearest treasure, the light of His smile;
   Seeking the lost ones He died to redeem,
   Bringing the weary to find rest in Him.
                         Thomas O. Chisholm
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Monday, June 09, 2025

Justice

This last verse [Deut 10:19] contains a key idea: the care given by the community to its weakest members, and even to those who are not members at all, is to be a mirror of God’s own care for the Israelites when they were enslaved. The activities of the community are not undertaken on general principles; they arise out of the lively remembrance of God’s just and merciful initiatives with them (“A wandering Aramean was my father” — Deut. 26:5).

Because justice is such a central part of God’s nature, he has declared enmity against every form of injustice. His wrath will come upon those who have exploited the poor and weak; he will not permit his purpose to be subverted.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 110

All for Jesus (hymn)

459 All for Jesus

1 All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
   All my being’s ransomed pow'rs,
   all my thoughts and words and doings,
   all my days and all my hours.

2 Let my hands perform his bidding,
   let my feet run in his ways;
   let my eyes see Jesus only,
   let my lips speak forth his praise.

3 Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus,
   I’ve lost sight of all beside;
   so enchained my spirit’s vision,
   looking at the Crucified.

4 O what wonder! How amazing!
   Jesus, glorious King of kings,
   deigns to call me his beloved,
   lets me rest beneath his wings.
                         Mary D. James
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Hymnary.org inserts a verse:

3 Worldlings prize their gems of beauty,
   cling to gilded toys of dust,
   boast of wealth and fame and pleasure;
   only Jesus will I trust.
</idle musing>

Sunday, June 08, 2025

I'll Live for Him

453 I'll Live for Him

1 My life, my love I give to Thee,
   Thou Lamb of God who died for me;
   O may I ever faithful be,
   My Savior and my God!

Refrain:
   I'll live for him who died for me,
   How happy then my life shall be!
   I'll live for him who died for me,
   My Savior and my God!

2 I now believe thou dost receive,
   For Thou hast died That I might live;
   And now henceforth I'll trust in Thee,
   My Savior and my God! [Refrain]

3 O Thou who died on Calvary,
   To save my soul and make me free;
   I'll consecrate My life to Thee,
   My Savior and my God! [Refrain]
                         Ralph E. Hudson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Saturday, June 07, 2025

I Could Never Outlove the Lord

452 I Could Never Outlove the Lord

1 There've been times when giving and loving brought pain
   And I promised that I'd never let it happen again
   But I found out that loving is well worth the risk
   And that even in losing you win

Chorus
   I'm going to live the way He wants me to live
   I'm going to give until there's just no more to give
   I'm going to love, love till there's just no more love
   For I could never, ever out love the Lord

2 He showed us that only through dying we live
   And He gave when it seemed there was nothing to give
   He loved when loving brought heartache and loss
   He forgave from the old rugged cross [Chorus]
                         Gloria Gaither
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Friday, June 06, 2025

The irony of justice in this world

There is much irony here, for injustice is a threatening subject for the ruling classes who have the time and inclination for reading books like this one. Those who suffer most from injustice are the poorly educated, the impoverished, the invisible. Justice is involved with law and judges; the people most likely to suffer injustice cannot afford good lawyers, do not even know any lawyers, whereas lawyers and judges are the ones who have the money to buy books. In other words, those most likely to be affected by the issues raised in this chapter are least likely to be reading about them.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 107

I Need Jesus (Hymn)

450 I Need Jesus

1 I need Jesus, my need I now confess;
   No friend like Him in times of deep distress;
   I need Jesus, the need I gladly own;
   Tho' some may bear their load alone,
   Yet I need Jesus.

Chorus:
   I need Jesus, I need Jesus,
   I need Jesus every day;
   Need Him in the sunshine hour,
   Need Him when the stormclouds low'r;
   Every day along my way,
   Yes, I need Jesus.

2 I need Jesus, I need a friend like Him,
   A friend to guide when paths of life are dim;
   I need Jesus, when foes my soul assail;
   Alone I know I can but fail,
   So I need Jesus. (Chorus)

3 I need Jesus, I need Him to the end;
   No one like Him, He is the sinner's Friend;
   I need Jesus, no other friend will do;
   So constant, kind, so strong and true,
   Yes, I need Jesus. (Chorus)
                         George O. Webster
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Loosing sight of the cross

We have looked at passages from Paul’s Corinthian letters to show what happens to a church when it loses sight of the cross. Paul’s insistence on the “word of the cross,” then as now, causes offense, because a “Corinthian” church is self-congratulatory, certain of its own spiritual attainments, whereas the cross of Christ displays God’s leveling of all distinctions in his godless death.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 105

Speak, Lord, in the Stillness

444 Speak, Lord, in the Stillness

1 Speak, Lord, in the stillness
   speak your word to me;
   hushed my heart to listen
   in expectancy.

2 Speak, O gracious Master,
   in this quiet hour;
   let me see your face, Lord,
   feel your touch of power.

3 For the words you give me
   they are life indeed;
   living bread from heaven,
   now my spirit feed.

4 Speak, your servant listens,
   be not silent, Lord;
   let me know your presence;
   let your voice be heard.

5 Fill me with the knowledge
   of your glorious will;
   all your own good pleasure
   in my life fulfill.
                         Emily May Grimes Crawford
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn, only occurring in about forty hymnals. The biography link above is a bit strange, almost as if the person writing it had an axe to grind.
</idle musing>

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

Not ashamed?

The purpose of this chapter has been to show that God’s purpose is revealed not only in the fact of his Messiah’s death, but also in the mode of his death. We have attempted to say something about the depth of shame and ungodliness attached to crucifixion as a method, and to explain how much audacity and courage were required of the early Christians to proclaim a crucified Messiah to a world that could have been expected, then as now, to find such a message insupportable. Martin Hengel describes his research into “the constantly varying forms of abhorrence at the new religious teaching.” He shows us why such a highly educated, well-born person as Paul would feel constrained to say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 104 (emphasis original)

Tozer for Tuesday (on a Wednesday!)

The rank and file does not want to enter beyond the veil of self. It demands a life of holiness in order to enter.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 144

A poetic prayer

441 Prayer

More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day,
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friends,
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
                        —Alfred Lord Tennyson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

In and through, not over and against!

Closely related is a striking passage in II Corinthians that begins: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself,” thereby nailing down the indispensable affirmation that the Father is acting, not over against the Son, but through and in the Son, whose will is the same as the Father’s. The awesome transaction is taking place within God.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 100 (emphasis original)

Psalm 144 (paraphrased)

438 Psalm 144

O God, it is difficult to understand how You can regard man with such high regard and show him so much concern.
His years upon this earth are so few. He is little more than a wisp of wind in the time and space of Your great universe.
You created him as the object of Your love—only to see him turn from You to play with his foolish toys.
You tried to teach him to love his fellowman—only to see him express his fear and suspicion and hate through cruel acts of violence and war.
You showered upon him Your abundant gifts—only to see him make them his ultimate concern.
Still You continue to love him and seek incessantly to save him from destroying himself and the world You have placed in his hands.
Even while he rejects You, You reach out to draw him back to Yourself.
Even while he suffers the painful consequences of his rank rebelliousness, You offer to him Your healing and demonstrate Your desire to restore him to love and joy.
And when he finally turns to You, he finds You waiting for him, ready to forgive his sins and to reunite him to Your life and purposes once more.
That man who returns to his God is happy indeed!
He will forever be the object of God’s love and blessings.
                         —Leslie Brandt
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Monday, June 02, 2025

Pitied, petted, and pampered

THE CHURCH WORLD IS FULL of Christian professors and ministers, Sunday school teachers and workers, evangelists and missionaries in whom the gifts of the Spirit are very manifest, and who bring blessing to multitudes. However, when known ”close up,” they are found to be full of self.

They may have ”forsaken all” for Christ and imagine they would be ready, like the disciples of old, to die for their Master, but deep down in their hidden, private lives there lurks that dark, sinister power of self.

Such persons may wonder, all the while, why they do not have victory over their wounded pride, their touchiness, their greediness, their lovelessness, their failure to experience the promised "rivers of living water.” Ah, the secret is not far away. They secretly and habitually practice “shrine worship” at the shrine of self. There they bow daily and do obeisance. They are fundamental. In the outward Cross they glory, but inwardly they worship another god—and stretch out their hands to serve a pitied, petted, and pampered self-life.—L. E. Maxwell, Born Crucified, 65–66

Almost Persuaded

437 Almost Persuaded

1 “Almost persuaded” now to believe;
   “Almost persuaded” Christ to receive;
   Seems now some soul to say,
   “Go, Spirit, go Thy way;
   Some more convenient day
   On Thee I’ll call.”

2 “Almost persuaded,” come, come today;
   “Almost persuaded,” turn not away;
   Jesus invites you here,
   Angels are lingering near,
   Prayers rise from hearts so dear;
   O wanderer, come.

3 “Almost persuaded,” harvest is past!
   “Almost persuaded” doom comes at last!
   “Almost” cannot avail;
   “Almost” is but to fail!
   Sad, sad, that bitter wail,
   “Almost,” but lost!
                         Philip P. Bliss
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Sunday, June 01, 2025

For Those Tears I Died

436 For Those Tears I Died

1 You said You'd come and share all my sorrows,
   You said You'd be there for all my tomorrows.
   I came so close to sending You away:
   But just like You promised You came here to stay,
   I just had to pray.

Chorus
   And Jesus said come to the water, stand by my side;
   I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied.
   I felt every teardrop when in darkness You cried;
   And I strove to remind you, that for those tears I died.

2 Your goodness so great, I can't understand.
   And dear Lord I know that all this was planned.
   I know You're here now and always will be;
   Your love loosed my chains and in You I'm free,
   But Jesus, why me? [Chorus}

3 Jesus, I give You my heart and my soul.
   I know that without You, I’d never be whole.
   Savior, You've opened all the right doors,
   And I thank You and praise You from Earth's humble shores,
   Take me I'm Yours.
                         Marsha Stevens
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
An old standby from early CCM, written in 1969. It only occurs in about 12 hymnals, but I recall singing it multiple times in Bible studies and small groups. It was on an album by Children of the Day that Debbie owned. For our wedding, as the closing song, we used their song, "Children of the Day."
</idle musing>

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Jesus Is Calling (Crosby)

434 Jesus Is Calling

1 Jesus is tenderly calling thee home-
   Calling today, calling today;
   Why from the sunshine of love wilt thou roam
   Farther and farther away?

Refrain:
   Calling today,
   Calling today,
   Jesus is calling,
   Is tenderly calling today.

2 Jesus is calling the weary to rest-
   Calling today, calling today;
   Bring Him thy burden and thou shalt be blest-
   He will not turn thee away. [Refrain]

3 Jesus is waiting; O come to Him now-
   Waiting today, waiting today;
   Come with thy sins, at His feet lowly bow-
   Come, and no longer delay. [Refrain]

4 Jesus is pleading; O list to His voice-
   Hear Him today, hear Him today;
   They who believe on His name shall rejoice-
   Quickly arise and away. [Refrain]
                         Fanny Crosby
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Friday, May 30, 2025

The Trinity did it!

The important thing for our discussion here is Paul's announcement (kerygma) that God, in the person of his sinless Son, put himself voluntarily and deliberately into the condition of greatest accursedness — on our behalf and in our place. This mind-crunching paradox lies at the heart of the Christian message.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 100

Let Jesus Come into Your Heart

433 Let Jesus Come into Your Heart

1 If you are tired of the load of your sin,
   Let Jesus come into your heart;
   If you desire a new life to begin,
   Let Jesus come into your heart.

Refrain:
   Just now your doubtings give o'er;
   Just now reject Him no more;
   Just now throw open the door;
   Let Jesus come into your heart.

2 If 'tis for purity now that you sigh,
   Let Jesus come into your heart;
   Fountains for cleansing are flowing near by,
   Let Jesus come into your heart. [Refrain]

3 If there's a tempest your voice cannot still,
   Let Jesus come into your heart;
   If there's a void this world never can fill,
   Let Jesus come into your heart. [Refrain]

4 If you would join the glad songs of the blest,
   Let Jesus come into your heart;
   If you would enter the mansions of rest,
   Let Jesus come into your heart. [Refrain]
                         Lelia N. Morris
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
I don't know if anyone ever clicks through to the bibliography of the hymnwriters, but some of them are really interesting. This author started to go blind in her early 50s, so her son built a 28 ft. blackboard with oversized music staffs so she could continue to compose music!
</idle musing>