Hymn Devotional

AndCan It Be, That I Should Gain?

 

1 And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

2 'Tis mystery all! Th'Immortal dies!
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine!
'Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more. [Refrain]

3 He left His Father's throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race;
'Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me. [Refrain]

4 Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee. [Refrain]

5 No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own. [Refrain]

Amen.

     This month is dedicated to love! What more fitting hymn than to talk of our Savior's love for us! Philippians 2:1-11 describes His love best to us. I want to zero in on verses 5-8 that tells us that He did not count holding on to His equality with God. But He wanted to show how much He loved us by giving that all up. He valued having us with Him was more important, for we were created in His image. He cares that much for us.

     We caused Him all of this pain by seeking out our own desires and not our intimate relationship with Him. Romans 5:8 tells us, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

     We have been imprisoned long enough to our bondage of sin. It is amazing that all we have to do is to accept His grace.  Once we accept His gift of love, we can claim Him as our own, making us presentable to our Father above.     

Prayer:

Lord, 

     As we journey on in this world, we see that there are so many who are hurting, who are at a lost of what to do with their lives. The days are growing more evil all the time, not knowing what to expect for tomorrow.

     But we can make a difference. We can see that there are numerous ways to share your love with this evil world. With this being set aside as the month of love, help us to reach out to those around us to touch them in a special way. Help us also to reach out to those whom we do not know.

     I pray that we may continue to be in tune to Your love as we continue to go through this year, reaching out to the lost. Help us to be more in tune to those hurting and help us as we offer Your love to those who are hurting, to those who are lost.
     Help us to feel Your love for Your people. It is hard to look into an audience of strangers, especially in a crowd, and know that Your love for them is just as much as Your love for us. Lord, teach us to love like You.