"Stand with me now as we turn in our Hymnals to Hymn number 334 Blessed Assurance..."
How many times have I said those exact words or heard them said in church? How many times have I sang (or is it sung, singed, songed?) that familiar hymn? How many times did I even think about those words? Here they are...
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!
Oh what a foretaste of glory Divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Think about that for a minute. Ok I'll wait..........................................
How did you feel about that song? I'll go first.
One thing that hits me is that while Jesus is "MINE" and that this is "MY" story and song, Jesus isn't really "MINE". WHAT, you ask? OK so he is "MY SAVIOUR" "MY GOD" "MY ROCK" "MY SHELTER" etc. etc. etc. is he really mine though, and if so how?
Let me hypothesise for a moment. The only way that Jesus is really mine is if he is mine to share. I never get the feeling that we can keep Jesus all to ourselves. I once heard a pastor say that the reason Christians aren't doing anything for the kingdom is that we are too busy "sitting on our blessed assurance." Its the idea that we get what we can, can what we get, then sit on the can.
Let me articulate this another way. We've all seen a toddler when you try to take his "BINKY" away right? What does little Johnny say? MINE! He is asserting his possession of the binky and articulating that in the only way he knows how. MINE MINE MINE! It gets the point across. Is this how we really sing Blessed Assurance? Blessed Assurance, Jesus is MINE! (Emphasis on the mine like little Johnny when you take his binky)
If we really bought into the idea that once I have personally appropriated Jesus as my salvation, he is only MINE to share how would our churches be different? I recently learned that our church got the award for most baptisms this year with a whopping total of 49! (For the sake of time I'll leave the discussion of the "Baptism Award" to another post.) What struck me is that none of us ever mean to sing the song this way. It is never an intentional thought when we sing the song. What it is however is a subconscious thought that we express, and is only evidenced by an invitation where no one accepts Christ as Saviour.
"O wretched man that I am!" I am the chief of sinners! Especially when it comes to this topic. I stand at the front during the invitation waiting for someone to come, I even teach I TEACH an evangelism class, yet Jesus is MINE!< I got him, I stuffed him into the can, and now I'm sitting on the can because after all he is MINE!
I've been thinking about a catalyst. What kind of catalyst would it take to get our church out of its comfort zone and engaged in the world. Could it be this very thing? Could it be that we MUST realize that Jesus is only truly mine when I give him away? Could the catalyst we need be a person who says "This is my Jesus, I want you to have him" over and over again? What would happen if I did this? Could I be the catalyst, that spark that sets the whole thing on fire, the one who leads the way to making an impact for the kingdom?
I really want to be that Godly man. Not for my glory, but for two reasons. 1. To bring Jesus to a lost and dying world, that they may know him and receive eternal life, and have it abundantly. 2. I don't want to be content with Jesus being jut mine and mine alone. I want him to be glorified in me and in others and for that to happen I have to start by sharing him.
No more getting what I can. I have to get off the can, open it up and give it away.
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