I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Philippians 1:23 ESV
About ten years ago, I used to pay a weekly visit to an elderly couple from our church, who were no longer able to come to the Sunday services. Since they enjoyed singing, so I would always bring my guitar. Though their apartment was small, they made room for a cage where they kept two little parakeets, and the highlight of our singing sessions was when those two parakeets joined in. During the slower hymns, they would tweet to each other and dance on their perch, but whenever we sang the hymn, “I’ll Fly Away” they got so excited that they flew right out of the open cage door and sat up above the kitchen cabinets, where they joyfully tweeted with all their might!
That memory from years ago came back to me yesterday with the passing of yet another dear friend into the presence of Jesus. It reminded me that while we are here on earth, we are in a body that like the bird cage is not our permanent home. We can sing and praise the Lord the best we can from our low perch, but at the time that God chooses we have an appointment to keep with Jesus. Because of His death and resurrection, our cage door has been opened and when we hear His voice, we will spread our own wings and fly up and away. There He has prepared a high and heavenly new perch from which we be able to sing a hymn of praise forever – on that highest ground of all!
And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Matthew 27:59-60 ESV
For the followers of Jesus, the darkest night of their lives began as Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus down from the cross. Though Jesus Himself had told them on many occasions that He was to die, few really heard Him. Now, seeing His limp body being rolled in a linen shroud and placed in a tomb, the reality came crashing down like an avalanche burying their hopes and dreams. After the shouts, curses and screams they had heard on Friday as Jesus along with two thieves were crucified, Saturday passed in silence and rest. Wondering what they would do next, Mary Magdalene and some of the women determined that at least they could bring more spices on the first day of the week to give honor and dignity to the dead according to their customs. But when they got to the tomb, nothing was as they imagined. The stone had been rolled away, and an angel greeted them with the astonishing news. “He is not here! He has risen!” That first Easter message reminds me of the song, “When Morning Comes” often called, “Bye and Bye”
" Oft our cherished plans have failed disappointments have prevailed And we've wandered in the darkness heavyhearted and alone But we're trusting in the Lord and according to His Word We will understand it better by and by" When Morning Comes by Charles A. Tindley 1905
Maybe you are in a place this morning when your own cherished plans have failed. You feel as if you are sitting alone in the dark. The good news for you is that, just as Jesus broke through the darkness on that first Easter morning, He will break through the darkness of anyone who will come seeking Him. He is not dead. He is alive and able to help us, restore our hopes and teach us how to live for Him today!
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1 NLT
I love the way that one of my friends opens in prayer at our men’s meeting, saying, “Thank you God for another day that was never promised.” I love it because it reminds me that as I begin my day it is a gift that God has freely given. Whether I am sick or well, able to pay the bills or looking at an overdraft message from the bank, the hours that lie ahead are evidence of God’s grace. I love that prayer because it reminds me of the Hymn, “I Surrender All,”. Full surrender, or as today’s verse says, giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, is the perfect response to God’s grace. It tells us that rather than using our day however we please, an “I surrender all” attitude, is the only way to truly worship God, But to be honest, there are days when I couldn’t sing words like, “worldly pleasures all forsaken,” or, “I will ever love and TRUST Him.” because I like to reserve something for myself. Instead of trusting the hand of God, I rush around trying to do things on my own. Or I decide that there are a few worldly pleasures that I deserve and when the Holy Spirit convicts me by speaking in His still small voice, I turn down the volume and plow ahead with my own plans. But God in His great mercy and faithfulness has a way of getting our attention when we stray. Just like sheep who wander far from home and get tangled up in thorns or stuck at the bottom of a pit, we discover that our way was not so great after all and that maybe God was right. What a blessing that when we have fallen, we have a Good Shepherd. Though He has been seeking us all along, He has had to wait for us to stop our struggling, and surrender to His will, Then He begins to untangle us from the mess we made. In surrender we make the amazing discovery that once we give up our demand to be large and in charge, Jesus begins His work of restoration and healing. His plans and calling are far better than anything we could think or imagine, but He awaits our surrender to Him, as He surrendered Himself for us.
I love the fact that Billy Graham called this hymn one of his favorites, because during the time when he attended what today is called, Trinity Bible College, not far from where we live, Judson De Venter, who wrote the hymn, often preached at the school. The full surrender that God had planned for Billy Graham, continues to impact the lives of millions of people around the globe. We will probably never gain a worldwide reputation as Billy Graham did, but when we release our grip on our desires, our homes and even our finances, God will begin to use them in ways far beyond anything we could imagine, as a blessing in the lives of others and then lead us into a deeper walk with Him.
All to Jesus I surrender All to him I freely give I will ever love and trust him, In his presence daily live I surrender all - I surrender all All to thee, my blessed Savior - I surrender all Judson Van De Venter 1896
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