Some of the people who have impacted me the most in this life are those who have already passed from it.
The preachers and writers of old have recorded some of their deep thought about God that still echo through the generations proceed on from their grave. One of those men is George Matheson, otherwise known as “The Blind Preacher.”
Though his vision was blurry, his dreams for his future never seamed to be unclear. He was able to write many articles and books in his lifetime, some with the help of his sister, others with the help of a secretary, and then later in his life by using Braille and a typewriter.
Perhaps one of the greatest pieces Matheson ever wrote was a simply hymn on the night his sister got married entitled, “O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go.”
Each line of the hymn carries a deep theological thought that propels the listener to a deeper contemplation of God’s greater love and purposes than this life can offer. The words are as follows:
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
In the first verse, Matheson captures the greatness that only comes from giving your life over to Christ (Matthew 10:39). On our own efforts this life will be fleeting and produces nothing more than a weary and worn-down soul. Yet a life that is give to Christ will experience a washing over by the depths of God love, of which we cannot fathom (Ephesians 3:18).
O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
We may try to shine a light by raising our own torch of hope, as surly Matheson had done as a minister. The only way to bring true light to the darkness is to allow God’s glory to be reflected (or ‘borrowed’) in our life.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
The rainbow is one of God’s greatest signs of joy and promises contained in the Bible. Surely Noah, and even God himself, would have felt great sorrow after the flood, the rainbow stood as a promise to be traced back to God’s deep-seated joy of deliverance.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
Finally, and most profoundly it is the Cross of Christ that lifts our downcast head with eternal hope. When we lay life’s glory in the dust, it is there that we find the crimson blood of our Savior. Our abandonment of life’s dirt mixed with Christ seed of redemption blossoms a life of eternal joy, love, glory and forgiveness.
Mathenson’s impact on the world is to be noted; not because of his great writing, preaching or ability overcome his limitations. Rather, his impact came when he realized that the greatest gift he could give the world was his own intimacy with Christ.
Imagine how the world might be different if you and I understood this as well. There is no telling the impact one can have on the world when he or she understand it is not the world that should be their focus, but the Creator and Redeemer of it.