Sever any ties...

"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
— David Livingstone

The loss of a believing heart

“Upon the white sea sand, there sat a pilgrim band,
Telling the losses which their lives had known,
While evening waned away, from breezy cliff and bay,
And the strong tides went out with weary moan.

“One spake with quivering lip, of a fair freighted ship,
With all his household to the deep gone down.
But one had wilder woe, for a fair face long ago,
Lost in the darker depths of a great town.

“There were some who mourned their youth, with a most loving truth,
For its brave hopes and memories ever green;
And one upon the West, turned an eye that would not rest,
For far-off hills whereon its joy had been.

“Some talked of vanished gold, some of proud honors told,
Some spoke of friends that were their trust no more;
And one of a green grave, beside a foreign wave,
That made him sit so lonely on the shore.

“But when their tales were done, there spake among them one,
A stranger, seeming from all sorrow free:
‘Sad losses have ye met, but mine is heavier yet,
For a believing heart hath gone from me.’

“’Alas!’ these pilgrims said, ‘for the living and the dead,
For fortunes cruelty, for love’s sure cross,
For the wreck of land and sea, but however it came to thee—
Thine, stranger, is life’s last and heaviest loss.’”

--Frances Browne

The Kingdom of God

O WORLD invisible, we view thee,
O world intangible, we touch thee,
O world unknowable, we know thee,
Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!

Does the fish soar to find the ocean,
The eagle plunge to find the air—
That we ask of the stars in motion
If they have rumour of thee there?

Not where the wheeling systems darken,
And our benumbed conceiving soars!—
The drift of pinions, would we hearken,
Beats at our own clay-shuttered doors.

The angels keep their ancient places;—
Turn but a stone, and start a wing!
‘Tis ye, ‘tis your estrangèd faces,
That miss the many-splendoured thing.

But (when so sad thou canst not sadder)
Cry;—and upon thy so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob’s ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.

Yea, in the night, my Soul, my daughter,
Cry,—clinging Heaven by the hems;
And lo, Christ walking on the water
Not of Gennesareth, but Thames!

-- Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

Eternity

I stood with God on the edge of the world,
and my hand was in His hand.
I looked down the road of the past,
as it stretched away in the dim distance,
till it was shrouded in the mists of time.
And I knew it had no beginning,
and a little chill wind of fear blew about my head.
God asked, "Are you afraid?"
And I said, "Yes, because I cannot understand how there
can be no beginning."

So God said, "Let us turn and face the other way."
And I looked into glory,
and my heart rejoiced with joy unspeakable.
And then my mind went ahead, a billion, billion years,
and I knew there would be no end,
and again that little chill wind of fear began to blow.
And God asked me again, "Are you afraid?"
And I answered, "A little, because I cannot
understand how there can be no end."

So God asked me tenderly,
"Are you afraid now, today, with your hand in Mine?"
And I looked up at Him and smiled and replied,
"O my Father, No!"
And God said,

"Every day in eternity will be today."

-- Martha Snell Nicholson

Once to every man and Nation - James Russell Lowell

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.

By the light of burning martyrs, Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv’ries ever with the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.

Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

Time lost can never be retrieved

Time lost can never be retrieved. Time cannot be hoarded, only spent well.
These lines were found engraved on a sundial:

The shadow of my finger cast
Divides the future from the past
Before it stands the unborn hour
In darkness and beyond thy power;
Behind its unreturning line
The vanished hour, no longer thine;
One hour alone is in thy hands,
The NOW on which the shadow stands.
--Author Unknown

When God wants to...

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And which every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out-
God knows what He's about.
--Author Unknown

A.W. Tozer said, "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply."

Perspectives on the Doctrine of God: Four Views (Review)

Millard Erickson has said that how we view God will not only determine the whole framework within which our theology is constructed, but also how we live our lives, and conduct our ministries. Four positions are described and defended in Perspectives on the Doctrine of God: Four Views by Paul Helm, Bruce A. Ware, Roger Olson and John Sanders. Two pairs of viewpoints are presented in this book. The first pair comes from the Reformed tradition while the second pair comes from the Arminian camp. Paul Helm starts off the book by making the case for the classical Calvinist doctrine of God. Bruce Ware retains the Reformed doctrine of God but attempts to make modifications of the divine attributes such as immutability and eternality. Roger Olson presents the “classical free will theist” understanding of God and John Sanders makes a case for “open theism and divine providence.”

A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The four positions expressed and responded by Helm, Ware, Olson, and Sanders are readable. All of them articulated their views and critiqued each other well but each view has its attendant shortcomings and the debate over the sovereignty of God and human responsibility continues. This book would serve as a good introduction for those who would like to get familiar with issues like predestination and election, free will and human responsibility.

Even this will pass away

Once in Persia reigned a king,
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel at a glance
Fit for every change and chance.
Solemn words, and these are they;
"Even this shall pass away."

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarkand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to match with these;
But he counted not his gain
Treasures of the mine or main;
"What is wealth?" the king would say;
"Even this shall pass away."

'Mid the revels of his court,
At the zenith of his sport,
When the palms of all his guest
Burned with clapping at his jest,
He, amid his figs and wine,
Cried, "O loving friends of mine;
Pleasures come, but not to stay;
'Even this shall pass away."

Lady, fairest ever seen,
Was the bride he crowned his queen.
Pillowed on his marriage bed,
Softly to his soul he said:
"Though no bridegroom ever pressed
Fairer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh must come to clay-
Even this shall pass away."

Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield;
Soldiers, with a loud lament,
Bore him bleeding to his tent.
Groaning from his tortured side,
"Pain is hard to bear, " he cried;
"But with patience, day by day,
Even this shall pass away."

Towering in the public square,
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue, carved in stone.
Then the king, disguised, unknown,
Stood before his sculptured name,
Musing meekly: "What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay;
Even this shall pass away."

Struck with palsy, sore and old,
Waiting at the Gates of Gold,
Said he with his dying breath,
"Life is done, but what is Death?"
Then, in answer to the king,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray,
"Even this shall pass away."

-THEODORE TILTON