Dear Ones:
Francis Ridley Havergal wrote in the sixth stanza of the hymn “Jesus, Thy Life is Mine“:
“Jesus, my life is Thine,
And evermore shalt be,
Hidden in Thee,
For nothing can untwine,
Thy life from mine.”
Let us today, by faith, lay hold of the wonderful truth of our inseparable union with Christ. (Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 2:5-6) The Apostle Paul said, “For me to live IS Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) Paul lived in the reality of his union with Christ.
Frederic William Myers wrote in his great poem “Saint Paul“:
“Christ! I am Christ’s! and let the name suffice you,
Ay, for me too He greatly hath sufficed.”
Myers, like Havergal, in his poem professes the great truth: he belongs to Christ and Christ belongs to him. This is true not by any virtue of his own but by faith in the faithful declaration of God.
Myers continues…
“Yes, without cheer of sister or of daughter,
Yes, without stay of father or of son,
Lone on the land and homeless on the water,
Pass I in patience till the work be done.”
Myers speaks of the context in which we are called to KNOW Christ, in which we are to commune with Him.
Sometimes in this world we will know the cheerless emptiness of loss and come face to face with what it means to find ourselves alone, bereft of human comfort. And yet, by virtue of our union with Christ, “nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ.” (Romans 8:39)
Before His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus spoke to his disciples concerning the Holy Spirit. He said, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
David Livingstone wrote in “Lord, Send Me Anywhere“;
“Lord, send my anywhere, Only go with me;
Lay any burden on me, Only sustain me.
Sever any tie, Save the tie that binds me to Thy heart–
Lord Jesus, my King, I consecrate my life, Lord to thee.”
Any loss of our closest earthly ties or of treasured blessing can never diminish in everlasting strength the tie that binds us to the Savior’s heart. We are united to Him.
How are we to live in this union? Isaiah tells us, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15) The Psalmist instructs us, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
When the difficulties of life assail us we are tempted to look away from the Lord. It is in such moments that we must learn to quietly look unto Him, who IS our life. We are so easily distracted by our trials that we cease to be still and KNOW that He is God and that Christ IS our life.
Meyers ends his poem in this manner:
“Yea thro’ life, death, thro’ sorrow and thro’ sinning
He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed:
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.”
Love,
Dad