Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all is bright.
Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure; with Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee, Abba, Father; I have set my heart on Thee:
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me.
Man may trouble and distress me, twill but drive me to Thy breast.
Life with trials hard may press me; heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, tis not in grief to harm me while Thy love is left to me;
Oh, twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee.
Take, my soul, thy full salvation; rise oer sin, and fear, and care;
Joy to find in every station something still to do or bear:
Think what Spirit dwells within thee; what a Fathers smile is thine;
What a Savior died to win thee, child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?
Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith, and winged by prayer,
Heavens eternal days before thee, Gods own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
~Henry F. Lyte
Then [Jesus] called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you must put aside your own pleasures and shoulder your cross, and follow me closely. If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.”
~Mark 8:34-35 (TLB)
This day, O Lord,
Open our eyes
to the ways we disguise
that hardness of heart
that separates us from our brothers
from You,
from the persons we are supposed to be.
How well we disguise it
behind masks of righteousness,
behind good intentions,
behind the myriad ways we can explain away the fact
that we are not loving justice,
not acting mercifully,
not walking humbly with You
who show Yourself in our brother’s eyes.
O Lord,
strip the veils,
crack the masks,
and let us see ourselves as we are,
standing naked before You
not worthy,
scarred and wounded by our failures to hit the mark
in need Your healing and transformation.
Lord, dress me anew in the white garments of Your love.
Help me release each one of those soiled and tattered veils I cling to,
transform me by Your loving touch,
this day and always,
Amen.