May
6
The Free Gift of Eternal Life
Filed by Becky Albrecht Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
At our worship service this past Sunday, the congregation sang a hymn that reminded me of the fact that there is nothing I or any one of us can do to earn God’s love. Days later, I am still thinking about that hymn…
The hymn is “Not What My Hands Have Done” by Horatius Bonar:
Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.
Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;
Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.
No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;
No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.
Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.
I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom.
I praise the God of grace; I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy and light.
’Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.
–Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, second series, 1861
The Bible reminds us that eternal life is a gift from God:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 nasb)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 nasb)
We might wonder how any one of us can receive this free gift.
The answer comes in remembering something that Mr. Bonar wrote: there is not one thing that I can do to “save my guilty soul.”
I must instead turn to Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. I must rest on Christ alone and what He has done, rather than what I have done to merit the love of God. The life of Christ is one in which He obeyed God’s perfect law perfectly, and died the death I deserved.
Thank you, Mr. Bonar, for reminding me of that _great_ news!
