For God Alone

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,  with all your soul, and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37) When Jesus spoke these words to the Pharisee, he was quoting the Shema as found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Every Hebrew father taught his children this bedrock verse from the Talmud. With His reply to the Pharisee’s question, Jesus confirmed that this principle, this maxim, remains at the very foundation for those who would follow Him as His disciple. James, the apostle, reminded us to …  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) In the Preface to his book, A Passion for God,* Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr. writes: “To commune with God by faith in deep personal fellowship is the highest fulfillment one can experience. I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and I want more.” Years ago, I traveled to Dublin, Ireland a few days before a scheduled mission effort, that I might spend time alone with God in a city that was altogether new to me. ...

Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word; Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard! Tell how the angels, in chorus, sang as they welcomed his birth, “Glory to God in the highest! Peace and good tidings to earth.” Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word; Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard! Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915 Fanny Crosby wrote between 5,500 and 9,000 gospel songs. (She used some 200 pseudonyms to preserve her modesty.) Conversion, life transformation, and preservation of the saints are common themes of her texts: Rescue the Perishing; Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine; To God Be the Glory; All the Way My Savior Leads Me; Praise Him! Praise Him!; I Am Thine, O Lord; Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior; Jesus Is Tenderly Calling; He Hideth My Soul; My Savior First of All (I Shall Know Him). The Bible records countless stories of transformed lives in both the Old and New Testaments: ...

Most protestant evangelicals love the Fanny Crosby hymn, To God Be the Glory, and for good reason! We have sung it with our brothers and sisters gathered in houses of worship as long as we can remember. Sing along as you read the words: To God be the glory, great things He hath done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life-gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice! O come to the Father through Jesus, the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He hath done. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes That moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;  But purer, and higher, and greater will be O...