Stealing Hymnals

I have a confession. I stole a hymnal from my church this past week and fell asleep in church. The falling asleep part was because my church starts at 7:30 a.m., I was tired, and the sermon was boring. I know those are just excuses, but I stole the hymnal because I heard this hymn for the first time and really liked the theology behind the hymn. I did not have a pen to write down the words of the hymn; therefore, I had two options. I could either steal the hymnal or tear the page out of the hymnal. What would you choose? I decided to steal the hymnal! (it is pictured below) Here is the hymn that I loved:

Hark, my soul! it is the Lord;

Tis thy Saviour, hear his word;

Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee,

‘Say, poor sinner, lov’st thou me?

‘I deliverd thee when bound,

And, when wounded, healed they wound;

Sought thee wandering, set thee right,

Turned they darkness into light.

‘Can a woman’s tender care

Cease towards the child she bare?

Yes, she may forgetful be,

Yet will I remember thee.

‘Mine is an unchanging love,

Higher than the heights above,

Deeper than the depths beneath,

Free and faithful, strong as death.

‘Thou shalt see my glory soon,

When the work of grace is done;

Partner of my throng shalt be:

Say, poor sinner, lov’st thou me?’

Lord, it is my chief complaint

That my love is weak and faint;

Yet I love thee, and adore;

O for grace to love thee more!

This hymn is sweet because first it makes you think you are in a Charles Dickens novel. Second, it is sweet because I love the theology behind the last stanza and specifically the last line: “O for grace to love thee more!” It is only by God’s grace that we are able to love him. That is good because I stink at loving God. My love is many times weak and faint. Maybe you don’t want to hear a “missionary” tell you that, but that is just life. There is hope for me though, and it is not through my actions. It is through understanding the grace of God and his actions toward us and responding to that love. I really think that we are the most “spiritually healthy” when we admit many times that we don’t truly love God and we are honest about our beliefs and feelings. So many times though I have been in churches that don’t encourage us to be honest about the fact that often times we don’t love God. Maybe ya’ll are better than me though. Maybe you can just will yourself to love God. I honestly can’t say that I can do that. I can only love God when I have properly understood the grace and love that has been given to me (see Romans 6:14). Actions should flow out of that knowledge, but without that knowledge actions are useless in my opinion.

(Stepping away from the pulpit) Maybe there is no hope for me though because I stole the hymnal. Ha ha! Don’t worry I will return the hymnal next week.