George Matheson wrote a wonderful hymn entitled “O love that wilt not let me go” on the ev­en­ing of the 6th of June, 1882. He described the writing of it in this way:

“Some­thing hap­pened to me, which was known only to my­self, and which caused me the most se­vere men­tal suf­fer­ing. The hymn was the fruit of that suf­fer­ing. It was the quick­est bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the im­press­ion of hav­ing it dic­tat­ed to me by some in­ward voice ra­ther than of work­ing it out my­self. I am quite sure that the whole work was com­plet­ed in five min­utes, and equal­ly sure that it ne­ver re­ceived at my hands any re­touch­ing or cor­rect­ion. I have no na­tur­al gift of rhy­thm. All the other vers­es I have ever writ­ten are man­u­fact­ured ar­ti­cles; this came like a day­spring from on high”.

The hymn perfectly captures a key element of the process of salvation in that we are not made captives to Gods law by force, yet we are compelled to follow Jesus because of the enduring love of God, for us. It speaks of sorrow relieved in God’s sunshine blaze and of pain restored on the Morning of redemption, illustrating the great joy and reward of endurance through dark times.

We have the benefit of God’s word available to us in the Scriptures and in the argument of whether salvation is predestined or chosen wilfully, although both arguments may be true, the Bible is uncompromising in showing that that we are to endure to the end if we want to inherit eternal life.

“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” Matt 24:13

Likewise, in the letters to the Churches in the Book of Revelation (Chapters 2 and 3), “To him who overcomes,” the promise is  all of the blessings of Gods Kingdom, including:

  • To eat from the tree of life,
  • (To) not be hurt by the second death,
  • Hidden manna to eat,
  • Power over the nations,
  • White garments,
  • The name of  God.

 

 We might ask what is there to overcome when we live in relative peace and comfort but therein lies a clue to the spiritual malaise which has overcome the church at large. Any christian who is truly set aside for God will know that to live in a world ruled by haters of God, who promote promiscuity and greed, selfishness and vain ambition, means a bombardment of spirit by forces of evil, from which only drawing near to God and allowing Him to lead us to still waters, can bring relief. The worldly Christian will have no experience of the struggle because he is un-Godly in his thoughts and attitudes and the sword of the spirit will not divide him from his surroundings.

“I write to you, dear children,
      because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning. 
I write to you, young men,
      because you have overcome the evil one. 
I write to you, dear children,
      because you have known the Father. 
I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning. 
I write to you, young men,
      because you are strong,
      and the word of God lives in you,
      and you have overcome the evil one”. 1Jn 2:12-14