March 2024
Blessed Easter! Our Lord is Risen! Hallelujah!
For the past several weeks of Lent, leading to Easter, in meditating on Christ and the Cross, my heart is filled with gratitude even as I once again survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died! Even as Isaac Watts responded then, so do I today, that my richest gain, I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
In today’s reflection I want to take you through several hymns about Christ and his Cross that testify vividly to the sacrificial death of Christ because of his
great love for each of us.
The Old Rugged Cross (by George Bennard)
On a hill far away
Stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
Where the dearest and best,
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.
Indeed as the song writer declares, Jesus took my punishment and my place on that cross, so that I can be pardoned and cleansed and be clothed with God’s righteousness and become a member of his household!
This is amazing grace!
This is amazing love! Charles Wesley in writing the first stanza of And Can It Be, burst out in the last two lines – Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, should’st die for me!!!
Charles and John Wesley grew up in a Christian home where they were taught the things of God at an early age. Yet these two brothers never truly experienced God’s saving grace till the Holy Spirit enlightened their hearts and minds as they read the Scriptures and understood that salvation is by grace alone, through the finished work of Christ alone!
The apostle John declared:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son Jesus, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, should’st die for me!
Stuart Townend captures the love of God powerfully in this song, How Deep the Father’s Love:
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That he should give his only Son,
To make a wretch his treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns his face away,
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons (and daughters) to glory.
I was worse than a wretch, yet God made me his treasure!
Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, should’st die for me!!!
And echoing yet another chorus from the hymn, I Stand Amazed in the Presence, where the composer declares:
How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be,
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior’s love for me!
Thanks be to the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – for this great gift of salvation. Jesus not only died on the cross but he rose from the dead, never to
die again!
Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God, should’st die for me!
Let me end these reflections with the chorus of the song, My Living Hope (Phil Wickham), that declares triumphantly in its refrain:
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free,
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in your name Jesus Christ, my living hope!
We serve a living God, Jesus Christ and because he lives, l [we] can face tomorrow, and all my tomorrows!
Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, my God, should’st die for me!
Much love In Christ, our Hope of Glory,
