I love many older hymns, but also some newer praise songs as well. In Christ Alone is perhaps one of the strongest songs that comes to mind. Think about these lyrics before reading on:
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
How often, though, do I sing songs, but my life doesn't reflect what my lips sing out? I see many of us doing this over and again (again, I'm guilty of it!). How often do we sing "In Christ alone," and yet we have a list of things we put before God? Country, family, jobs, hobbies, homes, cars, bills, toys, our causes, freedoms, rights, and personal health and safety and many more things besides. We say "I'm willing to follow you everywhere, but first let me make sure my 401k is secure!" I've heard so many excuses, and have made many more, and in all of it, I can assure you of this: there is nothing else on this earth that can save us; just Christ alone. He doesn't want to be first, the CEO or the Chairman of the Board, He wants to be the One and Only.
We can't let our worship be empty. The people of Israel would pray to and praise the Lord with their words, but their hearts didn't love Him. They would worship other gods and pursue themselves, their wants, wishes and desires. How often do we do the same? SO let our words be more than lip service, and our lives be more than slapping Christian stickers and T-shirts on to monuments giving honor to ourselves. Let us show the world that is in Christ, and in Christ alone that we derive all happiness, joy, and comfort.
Ephesians 2:1-10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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