Love to Jesus

An excerpt from The Valley of Vision:

“Lord Jesus,

If I love thee my soul shall seek thee,

but can I see thee unless my love to thee

is kept alive to this end?

Do I love thee because thou art good,

And canst alone do me good?

It is fitting thou shouldest not regard me,

for I am vile and selfish;

yet I seek thee,

and when I find thee there is no wrath

to devour me,

but only sweet love.

Thou dost stand as a rock between the scorching sun

and my soul,

and I live under the cool lee-side as one elect.

The Annunciation - Henry Ossawa Tanner, image credit The Philedelphia Museum of Art

When my mind acts without thee,

it spins nothing but deceit and delusion;

When my affections act without thee

nothing is seen but dead works.

O how I need thee to abide in me,

for I have no natural eyes to see thee,

but I live by faith in one whose face to me

is brighter than a thousand suns!

When I see that all sin is in me, all shame

belongs to me;

let me know that all good is in thee,

all glory is thine.

Keep me from the error of thinking thou dost

appear gloriously

when some strange light fills my heart,

as if that were the glorious activity of grace,

but let me see that the truest revelation of thyself

is when thou dost eclipse all my personal glory

of this world.

The Son breaks out in glory

when he shows himself as one who outshines

all creation,

makes men poor in spirit,

and helps them to find their good in him.

Grant that I may distrust myself, to see

my all in thee."

O lover of the Loveless,

"It is thy will that I should love thee

with heart, soul, mind, strength,

and my neighbor as myself.

But I am not sufficient for these things.

There is by nature no pure love in my soul;

Every affection in me is turned from thee;

I am bound, as slave to lust,

I cannot love thee, lovely as thou art,

until thou dost set me free.

Two Men Contemplating the Moon – Caspar David Friedrich, Image credit to The Met Museum

By grace I am thy freeman and would serve thee,

for I believe thou art my God in Jesus,

and that through him I am redeemed,

and my sins are forgiven.

With this freedom I would always obey thee,

but I cannot walk in liberty,

any more than I could first attain it, of myself.

May the Spirit draw me nearer to thee

and thy ways.

Thou art the end of all means,

for if they lead me not to thee,

I go away empty.

Order all my ways by thy holy word

and make the commandments the joy

of my heart,

that by them I may have happy converse

with thee.

May I grow in thy love and manifest it

to mankind.

Spirit of love, make me like the loving Jesus;

give me his benevolent temper,

his beneficent actions,

that I may shine before men to thy glory.

The more thou doest in love in me and by me,

humble me the more;

keep me meek, lowly,

and always ready to give thee honour."

- Excerpt from The Valley of Vision

But One Thing is Needful

“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” - Song of Solomon 2:3-4

“Now it came to pass, as they went that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:42

Johnannes Vermeeer: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, public domain image

Luke 8:2 tells us that at one time Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her by Jesus. The gospel accounts do not tell us she had a husband or children, wasn’t a hospitable homemaker like her sister, not the fairest virgin daughter of Israel, but nevertheless it’s Mary that gets to fulfill this scripture from Song of Solomon later on when she breaks a box of ointment over Jesus ahead of his arrest:

“While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof (SOS 1:12).”

The gospels tell us that Jesus loved both Mary and Martha, and Martha surely believed that Jesus is the Messiah as we see elsewhere in the gospels. But Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 7 that the one who has been forgiven of much, tends to love much more than the one who has the smaller debt forgiven. I think that was true of Mary and true of me.

Selah.