Daily Lesson for February 27, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from John chapter 3 verses 28 through 30:

28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

My friend Ted who passed away earlier this month may have been the most selfless man I've ever met -- definitely the most selfless minister I've ever met.  Whereas so many preachers have studied to prove themselves witty and smart, Ted studied hard to be made meek and humble of spirit.  His insights and knowledge were truly profound; yet they came always from a deep font of wisdom inside him and never from a place of conceit or love of the crowd.

At Ted's funeral John Wesley's Covenant Prayer was offered. It is a prayer of complete submission to God; and it is a prayer Ted prayed ever morning. As the congregation joined together in reading it, I realized that it was in praying this prayer morning by morning that Ted became the man he was -- a man humble and selfless, and wholly given to the purposes and glory of God.

Here is the prayer:

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.