gold of obedience

I sometimes find myself wandering around singing lines of hymns - today's was "with gold of obedience and incense of lowliness" I often find that the bits of hymn's that get stuck in my head are there to teach me something.

This particular line seems to add to the message from Matthew 5 which has been the Morning Prayer reading. There are things of worth which are way beyond things of price - these things, the offering of ourselves and our lives are what God craves. Outward appearances can be deceptive - after all everything tells us that the impression we make on the world is important.

But the impression we make on the world might be more subtle than we believe - people do notice folks who live in obedience and humility - but perhaps not with headlines. But most of us will not be making headlines anyway and so our Gold Standard needs to be God's will and the prayers we offer come from, at least, an inward posture of kneeling.


Fear not to enter his courts in the slenderness
of the poor wealth thou wouldst reckon as thine;
for truth in its beauty, and love in its tenderness,
these are the offerings to lay on his shrine.

The third verse of the hymn cuts to the quick - most of us know we fall short, we know we are not the humble or the peacemakers. We fear the task of being persecuted and worry that we would not stand up for our faith under serious opposition. These thoughts and fears are what make us poor, the realization that there is always so much more we can give. Truth and our poor broken sinful hearts are our offering and an offering which God eagerly accepts and mercifully transforms.