Daily Devotion for October 19, 2006

RESPONDING TO GRACE

 

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 1 Corinthians 6:19 

 

Paul wrote, "You are not your own; you were bought with a price."  What is the response of our life to the grace of God given at such a cost for us?

 

Nicolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf, son of the Prime Minister of Saxony, was born in Dresden in 1700.

 

On one occasion he visited the art gallery in Düsseldorf and saw the painting "Ecce Homo."

 

This painting by Italian baroque painter Domenico Feti (1589-1624) represents the Saviour, flogged, worn out and crowned with thorns, as he was presented by Pilate to the waiting crowd - "Behold the Man!" (Ecce Homo!)

 

The words in Latin across the bottom of the painting read, "All this have I done for you. What are you doing for me?"

 

This marked a major turning-point in his life and he became a key figure in a movement which came to be known as the Moravian Brethren. Zinzendorf stressed "heart religion" as well as Christian community, worldwide evangelism and ecumenical relationships.
John Wesley owed his conversion in 1738 largely to the Moravian Peter Böhler.
In January 1858, Frances Ridley Havergal was in Germany. She saw the same painting. The words so impressed her that she wrote her first hymn, which begins with the words,

Thy life was given for me,
thy blood , O Lord was shed,
that I might ransomed be,
and quickened from the dead:
thy life was given for me;
what have I given for thee?

We know her best for the hymn, "Take my life" (LH 400) - and its climax,

Take my love: my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

Paul wrote, "You are not your own; you were bought with a price." What is the response of our life to the grace of God given at such a cost for us?

 

Prayer
"Take My Life and Let It Be"
by Frances R. Havergal, 1836-1879

1. Take my life and let it be
   Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
   Take my moments and my days,
   Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
   
2. 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.
   
3. Take my voice and let me sing
   Always, only, for my King;
   Take my lips and let them be
   Filled with messages from Thee.
   
4. Take my silver and my gold,
   Not a mite would I withhold;
   Take my intellect and use
   Every power as Thou shalt choose.
   
5. 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.
   
6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
   At Thy feet its treasure-store;
   Take myself, and I will be
   Ever, only, all, for Thee.
   Amen

 

Hymn #400 from The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Eph. 6:24
Author: Frances R. Havergal, 1874
Composer: William H. Havergal, 1869
Tune: "Patmos"

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