Posts

Showing posts from December, 2006

Hymn on Romans 9:20-23

Election sovereign and free. Romans 9:20-23. Isaac Watts Behold the potter and the clay, He forms his vessels as he please: Such is our God, and such are we, The subjects of his high decrees. [Doth not the workman's power extend O'er all the mass, which part to choose And mold it for a nobler end, And which to leave for viler use?] May not the sovereign Lord on high Dispense his favors as he will, Choose some to life, while others die, And yet be just and gracious still? [What if, to make his terror known, He lets his patience long endure, Suff'ring vile rebels to go on, And seal their own destruction sure? What if he means to show his grace, And his electing love employs To mark out some of mortal race, And form them fit for heav'nly joys?] Shall man reply against the Lord, And call his Maker's ways unjust, The thunder of whose dreadful word Can crush a thousand worlds to dust? But, O my soul! if truths so bright Should dazzle and confound thy sight, Yet still his

A Vanishing Mist

“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” As I walk through my life, I find that self-sufficiency is like a tumor haunting me. I continually find myself fighting against the idea that I can do anything on my own power. It is easy for a Christian to give lip-service to grace, to talk highly of it. Oh, but to be consumed by it is rare. I spoke with someone recently over dinner, and I was astounded by how quickly I became a hypocrite. Passionately describing how fleeting life is and how precious grace is, I found such inconsistency in my own life. If I believed firmly in even what I understand of God’s sovereignty, I would be such a different Christian. Instead, I find myself often without the zeal for God that is so important to me. James 4 was a banner over that recent conversation, challenging my pride. “As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” Oh, is there ever a moment free from such boasting in ar