The Measure of Our Lives

"Let the glory of your name be the passion of the Church
Let the righteousness of God be a holy flame that burns
Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives.
We believe you're all to us."

We sang this song at the Heritage Preaching Lectures, and the words stayed with me strongly through the day. Not only is it a song that I have quickly come to love, but they seemed to form the theme of the day.

In the evening, there was a dinner honouring the life and ministry of Dr. Stan Fowler. He received a festschrift, a volume of essays written in his honour by friends and colleagues and students. A festschrift is an unsolicited labour of love, and perhaps the highest honour a scholar can receive. A few people mentioned that he has often said that he has worked to be a scholar in service to the church. That is the culture he has fostered at Heritage Seminary, where he has taught, and the spirit of scholarship that he has inspired in me. In his impromptu (though eloquent as ever) speech of thanks, he ended by saying, "All honour is really due to God, our triune God who is worthy of our study and adoration and obedience."

Let the glory of your name be the passion of the Church!

Through a day of lectures, Dr. Don Carson showed us the God of sovereign power and glory and holiness who is revealed in apocalyptic literature. He showed us a God in ultimate control of history, whose purposes cannot be thwarted by evil, and who is the object of ceaseless worship.

Let the righteousness of God be a holy flame that burns!

And in these two very different events -- the teaching of the word, and the honouring of a beloved servant of God -- somehow I heard the same message: that our lives are not about us. All we have and are is derived from the God who created and redeemed us. All that we could want from our lives will be found in service and praise to our God.

Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives!

Thank you, Don Carson and Stan Fowler for teaching me yesterday. My heart is full. Most of all, thank you Jesus for being the one who gives meaning to it all.

We believe you're all to us!