inherit

Let God be my portion

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Parable of the hidden treasure, Rembrandt or Gerard Dou, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Let the eternal God be the portion of my soul;
let heaven be my inheritance and hope;
let Christ be my Head and my promise of security;
let faith be my wisdom,
and love my very heart and will.
and patient persevering obedience be my life;
 
and then I can spare the wisdom of the world,
because I can spare the trifles that it seeks.
 
Richard Baxter, 1615-1691, English Puritan
 
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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
where moth and rust destroy 
    and where thieves break in and steal, 
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
where neither moth nor rust destroys 
    and where thieves do not break in and steal.

You are the nearest person to us

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
icon of Jesus and James, Nepoznati Ikonopisac, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
 
There is no person so near to us as you, Christ Jesus.
You are our father because we were created through you.
You are our brother because you took on our nature.
You are our father because you provided an inheritance for us.
You are our brother because you divided this inheritance with us.
And because you died to give us possession of that inheritance,
    you are the Nourishing One, our foster father 
    who has nursed us in his house, in the Christian church.
You are our twin brother, 
    so similar to us that your Father is ours
    and He will not know us from one another
    but will mingle our conditions:
He finds our sins in you
    and your righteousness in us.
 
after John Donne, 1572 – 1631, English poet, satirist, lawyer and priest
 
And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. 
You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
 

Be Thou My Vision

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
image / Donatas Dabravolskas / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
 
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
 
Dallán Forgaill, c. 560 – 640,  translated by Eleanor Hull 1912
 
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I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.

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Labor for one another

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Caleb Gregory on Unsplash
 
Grant, Almighty God,
    as You invite us so kindly and graciously to Yourself,
  that we may not be resistant,
    but with every evil affection subdued,
    offer ourselves to Your service.
 
  And since You require nothing else from us
    but to observe what is right toward one another,
O grant that we may be mindful of the brotherhood 
    that Your only begotten Son by His own blood has consecrated,
    and call on You as our father,
    and prove by our whole conduct that we are Your children.
 
And may every one of us so labor for one another that,
    being united in heart and affection,
    we may with one sentiment aspire towards that blessed life,
    where we shall enjoy the inheritance 
    that has been prepared and obtained by the blood of Your son,
    and through Him prepared for us in heaven. Amen.
 
John Calvin, 1509-1564, Swiss Reformer
Lifting Up Our Hearts, freely modified
 
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This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

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