I CAN ONLY IMAGINE
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known"
(1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV). Fanny Crosby wasn't born blind. She was the victim of a tragic mistake. The family doctor inadvertently confused the chemicals he was mixing for a routine eye drop prescription. At six weeks, the infant girl's eyes were flushed with a toxic substance and she immediately lost her sight. That accident occurred early in the nineteenth century long before society would have insisted on lawsuits as a way of seeking retribution. The way Fanny responded to this unthinkable injustice was to write hymn lyrics.
When she died at the age of 95, Fanny had written over 9,000 hymns. Although sightless, Fanny had eyes of faith that allowed her amazing biblical insights. Because she knew she would one day see her Savior face to face, her vision of heaven was all the more keen. With pen in hand she wrote as she imagined heaven's splendor. In one of her best-loved hymns she celebrated the joyful assurance of her salvation while longingly anticipating the day she'd be with Jesus.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love
(Blessed Assurance).
Miss Crosby once surprised an admirer by saying, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?"
"Why?" her amazed fan asked.
"Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"
Fanny's old-English way of talking is a bit outdated. But her delight imagining what it will be like to actually see the Lord is timeless. It's what Mercy Me sings about in "I Can Only Imagine." Perhaps their lyrics are a bit easier to relate to.
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face is before me
I can only imagine.
That's the very thing the apostle Paul whets our appetite for in the famous love chapter of the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 13 he calls us to imagine what it will be like to have perfect vision and perfect love.
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known"
(1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV). Fanny Crosby wasn't born blind. She was the victim of a tragic mistake. The family doctor inadvertently confused the chemicals he was mixing for a routine eye drop prescription. At six weeks, the infant girl's eyes were flushed with a toxic substance and she immediately lost her sight. That accident occurred early in the nineteenth century long before society would have insisted on lawsuits as a way of seeking retribution. The way Fanny responded to this unthinkable injustice was to write hymn lyrics.
When she died at the age of 95, Fanny had written over 9,000 hymns. Although sightless, Fanny had eyes of faith that allowed her amazing biblical insights. Because she knew she would one day see her Savior face to face, her vision of heaven was all the more keen. With pen in hand she wrote as she imagined heaven's splendor. In one of her best-loved hymns she celebrated the joyful assurance of her salvation while longingly anticipating the day she'd be with Jesus.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love
(Blessed Assurance).
Miss Crosby once surprised an admirer by saying, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?"
"Why?" her amazed fan asked.
"Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"
Fanny's old-English way of talking is a bit outdated. But her delight imagining what it will be like to actually see the Lord is timeless. It's what Mercy Me sings about in "I Can Only Imagine." Perhaps their lyrics are a bit easier to relate to.
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face is before me
I can only imagine.
That's the very thing the apostle Paul whets our appetite for in the famous love chapter of the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 13 he calls us to imagine what it will be like to have perfect vision and perfect love.
"Daily Devotionals on Christian Music"
