Monday, March 5, 2012

With a rebel yell, we cry more! more! MORE!

Lent 2012  A Clean Heart, Create in Me  C.S.Lewis
Monday March 5                                   Daniel9:9-10

Ol' C.S. quotes John Henry Newman to help us understand that we are not merely disobedient 3 year olds or pierced and tatooed adolescents but we have taken up weapons to rebel and fight against our God.  I hadn't considered our behavior that extreme before.  No wonder cleansing our hearts will be compared to death.  We have made self-reliance, self-determination and independence our platform.  We must lay down our weapons and submit.  OW!  It goes against all of my learned beliefs, save one.  I believe that God has my best interest at heart.  I can submit because I believe that God will take care of me.  When I stop my tantrms and my rebellion I can receive all that God has imagined for me.  When I realize that I am that beloved, it is easier for me to release the strident alarms of my ego and rely on the expertise of a big living God.  When I look back on these paragraphs and see all the "I"s, it is the perfect symptom of this problem.  Instead of more, more, more, I need to hope for less.  Lord,
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee. let this song be my prayer.
)Words: Fran­ces R. Ha­ver­gal, Feb­ru­a­ry 1874.
Music: Messiah, Lou­is J. Hér­old, 1830; ar­ranged by George Kings­ley)  Amen.

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