Come, Thou Fount

This is, hands down, one of my favorite hymns.  It speaks to my heart and my soul.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Words: Robert Robinson (1735-1790), alt.

Come, thou fount of every blessing,

tune my heart to sing thy grace!

Streams of mercy never ceasing,

call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! Oh, fix me on it,

mount of God’s unchanging love.

Here I find my greatest treasure;

hither, by thy help, I’ve come;

and I hope, by thy good pleasure,

safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger

wandering from the fold of God;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor

daily I’m constrained to be!

Let thy goodness, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee:

prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

prone to leave the God I love;

here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it

seal it for thy courts above.

The Beatitudes: Message Style

Matthew 5:1-12 (MSG)


You're Blessed


1-2   When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
3   "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4   "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5   "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6   "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7   "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
8   "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9   "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10   "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
11-12   "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.