Thought for the day – Sunday 19th April 2020
Hymns & Psalms 740 My God, I know, I feel thee mine
verse 4
Jesus, thine all-victorious love
Shed in my heart abroad,
Then shall my feet no longer rove,
Rooted and fixed in God.
The Bible (it had to be the Authorized Version in Wesley’s time, remember) really filled the mind and spirit of Charles Wesley. If you look at a couple of verses in the New Testament you will notice that the words were clearly on his mind when he penned this verse. Romans 5 v 5 says ‘… because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts…’ and Ephesians 3 v 17 we read ‘… that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love…’
In verse 4 of this great hymn Wesley begins with a statement of belief and follows it with one of the consequences of that belief, ie when Christ’s love fills the heart of the believer, then there is no inclination to wander away from that love for you are rooted and fixed in God. If this describes you, you are indeed obeying the first law of Jesus – ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12 v 30)
There is no part of you which is not involved in loving God – your heart (emotion); your soul (spirit); your mind (reason, intellect) and your strength (body).
We love God supremely in worship, using all of our being to express our reverence and love for God who created us, sustains us and redeems us.
He is a wonderful God worthy of all the love we can give him.