Holy Willie's Prayer

O You that in the Heavens does dwell,
Who, as it pleases best Yourself,
Sends one to Heaven and ten to Hell
All for Your glory,
And not for any good or ill
They have done before You!

I bless and praise Your matchless might,
When thousands You have left in night,
That I am here before Your sight,
For gifts and grace
A burning and a shining light
To all this place.

What was I, or my generation,
That I should get such exaltation?
I, who deserved most just damnation
For broken laws
Six thousand years before my creation,
Through Adam's cause!

When from my mother's womb I fell,
You might have plunged me deep in hell
To gnash my gums, and weep, and wail
In burning lakes,
Where damned devils roar and yell,
Chained to their stakes.

Yet I am here, a chosen sample,
To show Your grace is great and ample:
I am here a pillar of Your temple,
Strong as a rock,
A guide, a buckler, and example
To all Your flock!

But yet O Lord! confess I must:
At times I am irked with fleshly lust;
And sometimes, too, in worldly trust,
Vile self gets in;
But You remembers we are dust,
Defiled with sin.

O Lord! last night, You know, with Meg -
Your pardon I sincerely beg -
O, may it never be a living plague
To my dishonour!
And I will never lift a lawless leg
Again upon her.

Besides, I further must avow -
With Leezie's girl, three times, I think -
But, Lord, that Friday I was drunk,
When I came near her,
Or else, You know, Your servant true
Would never meddle with her.

Maybe You let this fleshly thorn
Buffet Your servant evening and morning,
Lest he too proud and high should turn
That he is so gifted:
If so, Your hand must even be borne
Until You lift it.

Lord, bless Your chosen in this place,
For here You have a chosen race!
But God confound their stubborn face
And blast their name,
Who bring Your elders to disgrace
And open shame!

Lord, remember Gavin Hamilton's deserts:
He drinks, and swears, and plays at cards,
Yet has so many taking arts
With great and small,
From God's own Priest the peoples hearts
He steals away.

And when we chastened him therefore,
You know how he bred such a row,
And set the world in a roar
Of laughing at us:
Curse You his basket and his store,
Cabbage and potatoes!

Lord, hear my earnest cry and prayer
Against that Presbytery of Ayr!
Your strong right hand, Lord, make it bear
Upon their heads!
Lord, visit them, and do not spare,
For their misdeeds!

O Lord, my God! that glib-tongued Aiken,
My very heart and flesh are quaking
To think how we stood sweating, shaking,
And pissed with dread,
While he, with hanging lip and sneering,
Held up his head.

Lord, in Your day of vengeance try him!
Lord, visit him who did employ him!
And pass not in Your mercy by them,
Nor hear their prayer,
But for Your people's sake destroy them,
And do not spare!

But, Lord, remember me and mine
With mercies temporal and divine,
That I for grace and wealth may shine
Excelled by none;
And all the glory shall be Yours -
Amen, Amen!

--Standard english translation of the original, written in 1785 by Robert Burns

Copernicus

Non parem Pauli gratiam requiro
Veniam Petri neque posco, sed quam
in crucis ligno dederas latroni; sedulus oro.


"O Lord, the faith thou didst give to St. Paul, I cannot ask; the mercy thou didst show to St. Peter; I dare not ask; but Lord, the grace thou didst show unto the dying robber, that, Lord, show to me.”


--Nicolaus Copernicus epitaph in St. Johns’ Cathedral in Toruń

Jesus nut

From Wikipedia: "Jesus nut or Jesus pin are colloquialisms for the main rotor retaining nut that holds the main rotor to the mast of some helicopters, such as the UH-1 Iroquois helicopter.

The term may have come from the idea that, if the Jesus pin were to fail in flight, the helicopter would detach from the rotors. and the only thing left for the crew to do would be to pray to Jesus. In addition, a person must have faith in the Jesus bolt to do its intended job without failure. Real examples of the Jesus pin failing are few and far between. However the pin must be checked before the flight. Some more recent helicopter systems do not have a Jesus nut."

Not from Wikipedia:  Though this sounds like a topic to make some type of hackneyed postcard out of, I think this is a great way to explain the Christian faith.  Maybe you are offended that the name of Jesus is being used in this way.  I know I was initially.  But I think there is a powerful analogy here.  

Many people think Christianity is an equation that says, "Jesus + my effort = salvation".  The false idea that we are earning our salvation is so entrenched in people's hearts.  So many Christians I know consider their faith in Jesus as "the first step" and then they think they are justified by law and their own performance after that.  That is why I love this idea of the "Jesus nut".  

In aerospace, nearly every design that is critical in keeping the aircraft in the air has some type of redundancy or backup built in.  There is of course, more safety in that approach, and the failure of any one part should not mean disaster for the passengers.  Through legalism, Christians are seeking to be justified by Christ AND by their own works.  But the scriptures make it clear that we must pick one or the other.  There is no backup plan.  

"You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." -Galatians 5:4

You are riding in the helicopter.  There is a single nut that holds the rotor in place.  Your life is inextricably tied to the success or failure of that one thing.  Do you put your faith in Christ, or in your own ability to keep the law?

Grace be with you

“A man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ.” -Martin Luther (1483-1546)


“Grace is the love that gives, that loves the unlovely and the unlovable.” -Oswald C. Hoffmann


“He who has not felt what sin is in the Old Testament knows little what grace is in the New. He who has not trembled in Moses, and wept in David, and wondered in Isaiah will rejoice little in Matthew, rest little in John. He who has not suffered under the Law will scarcely hear the glad sound of the gospel.” -R. W. Barbour 


“When the mask of self-righteousness has been torn from us and we stand stripped of all our accustomed defenses, we are candidates for God's generous grace.” -Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- )

Quotable quotations

Christ is a substitute for everything,
but nothing is a substitute for Christ.  ~H.A. Ironside


"People are stumbling over the simplest things. Take, for instance, that word believeth. You would think that was plain enough for anybody, but all my life I have heard people say, 'I have always believed, and yet I am not saved.' It does not say, 'Whosoever believeth the Bible, or creeds, or even the gospel story,'
but it does say, 'Whosoever believeth in him.' What is it to believe in Him? It means to put your soul's confidence in Him, to trust in Him, God's blessed Son."~H.A. Ironside

"I find no fault in Him."...You can find fault in anyone else, but you can find
no fault in Jesus. Holy, harmless, undefiled, sinless: there He is! Christ is God's way to man; Christ is man's way to God. Christ is the true Jacob's ladder. By Him the penitent sinner, the believing soul, the redeemed child of God may come unto the Father and enter into the house of many mansions."~George W. Truett

"When the Lord Jesus Christ became my surety . . . He went to Calvary's cross, and all my guilt was charged against Him. He settled for everything, and then He cried, 'It is finished.' And on the basis of that finished work, God can freely forgive, and justify completely, every poor sinner who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ." ~ Dr. Harry A. Ironside

War

Peace amongst men living alongside one
another is not a natural state.

On the contrary, the natural state of man
is that of war.

War manifested not only by open hostilities,
but also by the constant threat of hostility.

Peace, therefore, is a state that must be
established by law.

- Immanuel Kant, "Perpetual Peace" Chapter 2

Luther