Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


12.07.2006  

Wondrous

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

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?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.


Charles Wesley said of Isaac Watts' hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, that he would rather have written it than all of his own. In a sense, I think I'm beginning to understand Wesley's line of thinking.

John Piper said that "the Word of God is only as hard to obey as the beauty of God is hard to cherish." If this statement is true, and I believe that it is, I must wonder, what might I look upon that would cause me to see and cherish the beauty of God? When I hear the words of Watts sung aloud, I cannot think of a sight that could possibly be more beautiful to my soul than the cross of Christ. And, if the cross of Christ is infinitely beautiful, I cannot help but think that my capacity to enjoy beauty is terribly little and weak. Yet, do I stop gazing? Hardly!

Isaac Watts was a man that beheld the beauty of God in a way that I can only begin to imagine. When I learned that Wesley said he would rather have written this hymn than any of his, he brought to my mind the natural envy I have for any person that loves the LORD with a clarity and fervor that I so desperately desire. And yet, I find myself grateful to the LORD for men like Watts, like Wesley, for it is they who help spur me on toward the cross when I have failed to spur myself.

posted by Bolo | 12:44 AM
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