Helping Yourself to Grace (2)

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.
And He has exalted the horn of His people,
The praise of all His saints—
Of the children of Israel,
A people near to Him.
Praise the LORD! Psalm 148.13, 14

Wonderful Grace of Jesus
  Haldor Lillenas, 1918

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Refrain:
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
All-sufficient grace for even me!
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame;
Oh, magnify the precious Name of Jesus,
Praise His Name!

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching to all the lost,
By it I have been pardoned,
Saved to the uttermost;
Chains have been torn asunder,
Giving me liberty;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Refrain

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching the most defiled,
By its transforming power,
Making him God’s dear child,
Purchasing peace and heaven
For all eternity—
And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Refrain

The end of Christian life
Why has God saved us? To know, enjoy, glorify, and worship Him forever, that’s why. Is that the best we can do?

Absolutely.

What happens when we worship the Lord Jesus? We sound our loudest horn of battle and celebration, blaring forth with joy to have been made recipients of the wonderful grace of our Lord. And in so worshiping and praising the Lord, we enter His throne room, and take our seat with Him at the Father’s right hand (Ps. 22.3; Eph. 2.6), thus realizing fullness of joy and holy pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16.11). Don’t feel sorry for the saints in heaven, who spend all their time in glorious worship of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 4, 5). They’re doing what they were made for, and what they and we will be doing – whatever else we’re doing – through all eternity in the new heavens and new earth.

Worship is what we’re made for, and where we realize the fullness of what it means to be you and me. But we will never realize the glorious transforming potential of worship as long as we consider worship a one-hour commitment once a week. Paul calls us to take worship into every aspect of our daily lives, saying that this is, after all, only reasonable (Rom. 12.1, 2). Singing can be a most effective way of filling your day with worship, and when we’re singing about the grace of God, we’re being reminded of His infinite goodness and love, and lifted into the throne room of heaven, where we join our voices with departed saints and angels.

All that, right there while you’re getting ready for the day, driving to work, cleaning the bathroom, preparing for a meeting, or taking an exam. When you’re blowing your horn in praise for the Lord, celebrating the wonderful and matchless grace of Jesus, you are realizing the fullness of who God made you to be.

Grace so wonderful
As Haldor Lillenas understood, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is wonderful and matchless. You can never fathom the great depths, soaring heights, and unbounded power of grace; and there is nothing anywhere in the cosmos that compares with it. Grace is deeper, higher, broader, greater, and more effervescent with the love and goodness of God than our tongues can ever completely describe.

Where to begin to praise such wonderful and matchless grace? By its saving power in your own life! By His grace God has taken away the burden of your sin and set you free to live in the Kingdom of Christ unto righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit. And His grace continues to reach you every day, reviving your soul, eliciting your praise and wonder and thanksgiving, directing your steps, and empowering you to do all things for the glory of God.

Through you, this wonderful grace can reach the lost – just like it reached you! We may think some of the people in our Personal Mission Field to be so defiled by the ways of the world, that the grace of God can never reach them. But He made us His children out of such defilement, for His grace is wonderful and matchless.

Make yourself available as an agent of that grace, and fortify your soul by singing of the wonderful grace of Jesus throughout the day.

Grace all-sufficient
Whatever your need, whatever you require to sound the praises of Jesus to your world, God’s grace can provide. His all-sufficient grace is even for you, and through you, even to the people you will see today.

God’s grace can transform you. It can transform the people you love, and those to whom God sends you as a witness to Jesus. It can transform our culture. It can transform our sad and angry world, turning it rightside-up for Jesus Christ. This is grace worth singing about, even throughout the course of our grace-redeemed day.

And the more we sing of this grace throughout the day, the more we will magnify the precious Name of Jesus by our words and deeds, and find that others will want to join us in praising His Name.

Want to live in the Presence of Jesus, really, transformingly, and joyfully? Then blow your horn in praise by singing the Wonderful Grace of Jesus throughout your day.

For reflection
1. As Christians, we are commanded to sing praise to the Lord. God has given us songs to sing. Great saints of the past and present have composed wonderful songs to help us fulfill this calling. Singing can be a sign that we are filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5.18-21). So why don’t we sing any more than we do?

2. Take a moment right now to sing the three stanzas of “Wonderful Grace of Jesus.” If you don’t know the melody, YouTube is just a click away. How does singing this hymn aloud help you to appreciate just how wonderful and matchless the grace of Jesus is?

3. Pick three times today to sing one of the stanzas of this hymn. At the end of the day, sing it to reflect on all the grace God has shown you. Then pray and thank Him for the wonderful grace of Jesus.

Next Steps – Transformation: Talk to a Christian friend about singing more throughout the day. Why should we? How can we? Encourage your friend to join you in taking up this discipline.

More songs of praise await you in The Ailbe Psalter, in which we have arranged all the psalms for singing according to familiar hymn tunes. You can order your copy by clicking here.

We hope you find ReVision to be a helpful resource in your walk with and work for the Lord. If so, please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. We ask the Lord to move and enable many more of our readers to provide for the needs of our ministry. Please seek Him in prayer concerning your part in supporting our work. You can contribute online via PayPal, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.