20171130 My Hope is Built on Nothing Less …

In my growing up years, it was Hymn Number 521.  It’s the first line in a hymn written by Edward Mote in 1834.  It can be found in 927 different hymn book collections in countries all over the world (according to my Google search this morning).  The tune I first sung for it to was penned in 1864.  Although it wasn’t very catchy, as a child, I helped me remember the words to the first verse:

My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

I must admit, the contemporary version we now sing, a rearrangement by Hillsong music staff in the early 2000s, and made very popular across Australia soon after, re-enlivened the words for me. Part of the rearrangement was to make the final two verses into a chorus, as follows:

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour’s 
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

Jesus, in Jerusalem around a week before his crucified, reminds the chief priests and elders of a verse from the Psalms (118:22-23) as quoted in Mark 12:10-11 (ESV) Have you not read this Scripture: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?”

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, uses a similar analogy, to remind the readers that God’s plan, in Jesus, is the only foundation we should have for our lives:

1 Corinthians 3:11 (ESV) For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Hymns/Songs like “My Hope is Built On Nothing Less” are worship time reminders of the incredible certainty we have that God gives us in Jesus. Ours is not an earthly hope; rather, it is an eternal one. It is based on a historic reality, God extending grace to each and every one of us; totally undeserved, yet life-changing.

If “My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”, and “your hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”, then “our hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”.

This certainty of hope gives us great reason, great motivation, to be a community of hopeful actions, hopeful attitudes, hopeful relationships. Acting justly, loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God – now that’s a good plan!