Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Martin Fair
October 03, 2024
Add to Favourites
Listen to this daily worship
Galatians 6:14 (NRSVA)
14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
As the story goes, the young Isaac Watts returned from morning worship and complained to his father that the service – and not least the hymns – had been dreary. His father challenged him by suggesting that if he didn’t like the hymns he should write some of his own.
Out of that came upwards of 700 hymns, many still dear to the Church today, over 270 years after his death. Isn’t ‘O God, our help in ages past’ still key to our Remembrance services and would Christmas be the same without a rousing rendition of 'Joy to the World’?
But best loved of all, surely, is the wonderful, timeless classic that goes like this:
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Verse 2 picks up on Paul’s words to the Galatians: ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
May it be true of us too. There’s nothing we can do, no work of ours that will earn us extra points.
In Christ alone, our hope is found. It’s hard to imagine that Isaac Watts wouldn’t give his approval to that modern classic.
Prayer:
Loving God, in all our days we may cherish and cling to that old rugged cross for in Christ and in him crucified is all our boast. In his precious name, we pray, AMEN.
Login to comment.