Grace in Christ 26

What do you have that you don’t want to lose?  There is one who would like to take it away from you.  Jesus tells us that the thief, Satan, comes not but “to steal and to kill and to destroy.” (John 10:10)  You see, in contrast to the grace of God in Christ there is nothing but hatred in the heart and soul of Satan.  He offers us pleasure, but he would rob us of the joy we find in it.  He offers us riches, but he would rob us of any satisfaction we might find in it.  He would give us false hope, but he would rob us of gaining the realization of it.  He hates us.  He also wants to kill us.  Think back to the Garden of Eden.  God had said to Adam and Eve that in the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die.  What did Satan get them to do?  Eat of that tree!  He wanted to kill them.  The Bible says that he is a murderer from the beginning.  But wait! There’s more!  He not only wants to kill us, he also wants us to spend eternity in hell.  He wants to destroy us.  That is the game plan of the great thief. 

On the other hand there is Jesus Christ.  He wants us to have life and have it abundantly.  One of Godfrey Thring’s less known hymns is “Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring”.  Christ wants to give us life, real life, forgiven life, eternal life.  That is the life He spoke of John 10.  But He also wants us to have that life to be abundant life.  That is the point of Thring’s hymn.  What does abundant life mean?  Is it a new car, a four bedroom house, a secure retirement income?  What is it?  Here are some of the things that Thring listed as abundant life: peace, redemption, mercy, answered prayer, saved from despair, joy, hope, gladness, cheer, help in sorrow, victory over death and a home in heaven.  That is a pretty good list.  Satan can take away the things we often put on our list.  He cannot take away the things that Thring put on his.  Here is the 4^th stanza of his hymn, “Jesus comes in joy and sorrow, shares alike our hopes and fears; Jesus comes, whate’er befalls us, glads our hearts, and dries our tears; Alleluia! Alleluia! Cheering e’en our failing years.”  Praise God for abundant life through Grace in Christ. 

While this hymn is written to the traditional tune of Henry Lyte’s “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” (John Goss composer) it can also be sung to the Christmas carol tune of “Angels from the Realms of Glory”. 

 

 

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