Wednesday
Nov102010
The old hymn got it wrong.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 12:49PM 
The old hymn got it wrong:
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.~ Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Because Christ has rescued your heart:
- Your heart is no longer prone to wander.
- God the Father doesn't wear 'Jesus glasses'.
- Your sin is no longer you.
- You do love God with all heart.
- There is no difference between the purity of Jesus' heart and yours now.
Reader Comments (5)
Hey Jim,
Whoa! You have done it now! :D I so agree here. Songs like that are the soundtrack to my nightmares. All one has to do is sit in church and listen to the songs. I never understood why people go nuts over Christian music. I find it depressing and pointed. To me, the lyrics are interpreted in my mind as, "You are a bad, bad girl, bad in ways you don't even understand. You are not good enough and you should be ashamed. You are probably thinking of doing something bad even right now.". Ha ha ha.... Even Amazing Grace....some of the lines are just cold!
Meredith
Hey Meredith -- I have a hard to listening to a lot [but not all] 'Christian music.' For one thing, the level of artistry/writing/craft is pretty average at best; and, so much non-biblical teaching is being preached through the music -- especially regarding our re-created hearts.
Hey Jim,
"the level of artistry/writing/craft is pretty average at best" You are much more diplomatic than I am, for sure. I consider it significantly below par and mind-numbingly boring. I used to spend "praise and worship" time to compose grocery lists, fantasize and send e-mails from my phone...
Meredith :0)
Ok I have a question. Would you say "your sin is no longer you" to a man who has abandoned his wife and children, shacked up with a younger woman and tells himself it's all ok because God loves him so much and wants him to be happy. That is exactly the kind of statement people tell themselves and others to justify their sin, sin that devastates innocent people's lives. This is where I think the 'grace' message goes wrong. There is a whole lot it gets right, but it rewrites the whole sin thing different to how it was told in the bible, and as a result it ends up fostering more sin and feeding/strengthening existing sin/evil in the world. It's a clever tactic of the devil that a lot of good hearted people fall for, to the benefit of a lot of wicked people carrying out the devils will on this earth.
Great question, Natasha. Paul, whom I quote here, is not soft on sin -- he's simply putting it into proper perspective. In no way, does "your sin is no longer you" mean that you are no longer a responsible person.
If the man above, as you describe, is indeed a follower of Christ, then yes, no matter how ugly the sin, the evil he does is no longer him. Should he take responsibility for his actions? Of course. Because, if the grace of a good heart is not true for him, then it's not true for any of us. Just because grace can be abused, it makes it no less radical.
I also believe that if a person truly understands their new nature/heart, sin will be the last thing on their minds. But it's a process, as it is for each of us.
Your thoughts?