«Sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things» (Psalm 98:1).
“AMAZING GRACE» IS A CLASSIC of Christian music •and one of the most loved hymns of several generations. It is estimated that this hymn is sung an average of ten million times a year and has been recorded on more than eleven thousand different discs. It was written by John Newton, a British man whose Puritan mother raised him to be a good son of God. In spite of this, Newton went through a dark stage in his life, because he was a slave trader. He himself admitted having been cruel to them, of which he deeply repented before he became a Protestant pastor.
Having known the slavery trade from the inside and having participated filly in it, John Newton became an abolitionist, and dedicated great efforts to fighting against the practice of slave trading. happened as a consequence of his conversion. It was not until he found himself very sick in Africa that John recognized his need of a Savior, confessed his faith in Christ, and asked the Lord to take charge of his life. Asking for forgiveness for his past life of slavery, he wrote, «It will always be an object of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.» This is what the words of the wonderful hymn he composed say in part: Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found; ‘I was blind but now I see. ‘I was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.
Dear friend, what will your song be today? Are you able to see that the Lord is working in your life just as He works in the lives of people like Newton? Can you understand the change to which He is calling you each day? Have you stopped to reflect on the magnitude of the forgiveness He offers you if there is some behavior in your past that is weighing you down so much that it is not allowing you to go forward? Have you accepted the grace of Christ by faith, the total forgiveness that He has offered you through His death on the cross? If you have been blind to these and other things, remember that He can return your sight to you.