Song for Sunday: How Sweet the Name of Jesus

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear,

And drives away his fear.

 

It makes the wounded spirit whole, and calms the troubled breast;

‘Tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary rest,

And to the weary rest.

 

Dear name! the rock on which I build, my shield and hiding place;

My never-failing treasury filled with boundless stores of grace,

With boundless stores of grace.

 

Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest tho’t;

But when I see Thee as Thou art, I’ll praise Thee as I ought,

I’ll praise Thee as I ought.

 

Till then I would Thy love proclaim with ev’ry fleeting breath;

And may the music of Thy name refresh my soul in death,

Refresh my soul in death!

 

~ John Newton & Thomas Hastings

Song for Sunday: My Saviour’s Love

  From time to time God has grace on me to remind me of what a wretched sinner I am and with it comes the awe and wonder that despite that, He has redeemed me and called me His child.

 

I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,

And wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean.

 

How marvelous!  How wonderful!  And my song shall ever be:

How marvelous!  How wonderful is my Saviour’s love for me!

 

For me it was in the garden He prayed: "Not My will, but Thine;"

He had no tears for His own griefs, but sweatdrops of blood for mine.

 

He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own;

He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone.

 

When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see,

‘Twill be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me.

 

~Charles H. Gabriel

Motivation for Beauty (for Single Women)

  With all the thinking I’ve been doing lately about marriage and roles about men and women, a fairly unique thought has come to me regarding beauty.  Several months ago I read Shaunti Feldhahn’s book For Women Only.  The book is targeted at married women to teach them about what’s going on in the inner life of their men.  One of the points she makes is that men appreciate when their wives make an effort to be healthy and attractive at whatever stage she’s at in life.

  So what’s my point and how does this connect to singles?  I think as singles we all are concerned about what we look like and looking good, although in varying degrees of intensity.  So we don’t necessarily need a reminder to take care of ourselves physically but I think that we can have a different perspective on why we take care of ourselves physically. 

  I’ve thought of this in a few areas.  One is my hair.  I havn’t dyed it or permed it.  When I was younger it was because it would have been rebellious growing up in a more conservative home, but now there are several reasons.  One reason is that it’s a way of serving my future husband; so that he will have soft hair to play with.  Another area is weight loss and toning my body.  Again, there are several reasons why I’ve started getting more physically active (and by more I mean from zero to just enough to say I’m doing something!) but one of the things I’ve thought of is it’s another way of serving my future husband; by having a healthier and more beautiful body, his pleasure in me can be increased.

  My point is that it is possible to pursue physical attractiveness with a motivation of service.  Simply put: wanting to bring delight to our husband.  It doesn’t necessarily change what we’re doing, but it takes the focus off us and puts it on someone else, even though we may never have met him.  A friend of mine blogged a while ago about being intentional and thinking of the ‘so that…’ of what we do.  In this case to think, "I’m going to be healthy so that I have a greater gift to give my husband in my body" rather than "I’m going to be healthy so that I can look good and will be the centre of attention wherever I go."  Of course, this should not be the only motivation for being healthy and looking good, or maybe even the primary reason, but I think it’s a good thing to think about. 

  Two points of clarification.  One, by preparing myself for my husband, that does not give me free license to display myself in the mean time.  The gift of my body is for my future husband, not every guy I meet in between.  Second, I am not suggesting that we need to achieve, or should even strive to achieve, the standard of beauty that Hollywood has created.  In Bible school, one of the most beautiful girls was overweight.  Even though she wasn’t a size 0, she dressed attractively and applied makeup appropriately.  She had a beauty that radiated and it was impossible to not say that she was beautiful, regardless of her size.  What I am suggesting is striving to look our best at whatever weight, age, height we are or whatever body shape we have.

  Really, I’m not suggesting any changes in what we are doing as women to look beautiful, as much as giving another reason for thinking about our appearance: that of serving our future husbands.

 

  Your thoughts?  I wouldn’t mind some feedback on this one.

Song for Sunday: One Day

  This song speaks of Christ from before He came to earth til He comes back.  I love verse one and how it reminds me of what Jesus left to come to earth to rescue me.

 

One day when heaven was filled with His praises,

One day when sin was as black as could be,

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin—

Dwelt amongst men, my example is He!

 

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain,

One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;

Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:

Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!

 

One day they left Him alone in the garden,

One day He rested, from suffering free;

Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil;

Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!

 

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,

One day the stone rolled away from the door;

Then He arose, over death He has conquered;

Now is ascnded, my Lord evermore!

 

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,

One day the skies with His glories will shine;

Wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing;

Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!

 

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;

Buried, he carried my sins far away;

Rising, He justified freely forever;

One day He’s coming — oh, glorious day!

 

~ J. Wilbur Chapman & Charles H. Marsh

An Appointment with Wisdom

  About a week and a half ago I had the privilege of visiting a church in the city.  Instead of a traditional message, the pastor’s father shared his life’s story.  At the close of the service the pastor challenged us to think of an older person we could sit down with that week.  I didn’t make it a priority to consider this challenge, let alone pursue it.  But without my intentionality, by the end of the week I had sat down on three occasions with three different older couples.

  The first visit was actually with my mentor couple, Willie and Rodi Longenecker.  So because I was visiting them for the purpose of getting advice and understanding, it’s not very surprising that I should receive it in the course of our time together.  Willie shared with me from his life that no matter how busy we are the devil likes to tell us that we’re not doing enough, or even, not doing anything.  That was refreshing for me, just as I’ve been asking myself for a while if I’m really accomplishing anything.  They also gave practicial suggestions of how to be more effective in ministry.  One thing Rodi brought up was physical excercise, which may seem silly to some.  What would physical activity have to do with ministry?  But, as she is learning, it increases energy, alertness and even increases singing capacity.  What I really enjoyed about this visit is that as Willie and Rodi shared from their lives, I could see and hear that they are also learning.  They’re a few steps ahead of me, quite a few, but God is teaching them new things all the time too.  And as they learn they can pass the lessons down to those who follow, like me.

  The second visit was with my grandparents on a Thursday morning over breakfast.  What I took away from this time was that it is important that we are sensitive to older people in the volume of our music, especially in church settings.  As the younger generation we’re used to it but they totally are not.  It would do us good to at least think about them when we are setting volume levels or even arranging songs, in the case of leading praise and worship.

  The third was a visit with the couple with whom I went to Africa in May.  The Fuhrers.  We had a lovely visit with them Saturday morning.  We being myself and my parents.  (There are benefits to living at home; you get to see people you would never see otherwise)  Much was talked about of course, a lot of catching up to do, as they now live in Alberta.  Mr. Fuhrer’s words of wisdom to me was to not marry a non-Christian.  This is not new, but it was a passing on of a lesson they have learned through their children.  The other note of marital wisdom was the importance of communication.  If a husband and wife cannot talk together, the marriage is lost, they said.  (Not necessarily lost in the sense that it must end in divorce, but that it will not be a happy, lively marriage)

  I think we can learn a lot from those who have gone and are going before us.  I havn’t had a lot of interaction with older people, at least not those who are in the grandparent, reaching the sunset years kind, but I am coming to value them more. 

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, 

turning a man from the snares of death.

Proverbs 13:14