Blessed Assurance

On a summer day years ago, I heard children at play on a schoolyard. One little boy who wanted to be noticed kept shouting, “Hey, look at me!” I know he wanted to be noticed, otherwise why would he have been calling for attention? The following Sunday I preached a sermon on the human need for recognition and acceptance. One Sunday as I drove from Parkersburg, WV to Spenser to preach, I picked up a sad looking man who was hitching a ride to the hospital. He said he was an alcoholic who had been in the hospital several times but had left every time, thinking he could make it on his own. I noticed that his arms were covered with tattoos. Realizing that I had only those moments with him, I told him why I was going to Spencer and commented on my sermon. Then I asked, “Do you know why you have those tattoos on your arms? He didn’t seem to know why, so I said, “They are there because you need to be noticed. You have felt inadequate and the tattoos call attention to you. People wouldn’t notice that you had arms if you didn’t have tattoos on them. When I stopped at the hospital to let him off, he thanked me for the ride and especially for talking to him. He said I had helped him more than the doctors had. I had given him hope by directing his attention to Jesus. The boy shouted, “Hey, look at me” and the man’s tattoos cried as loudly for attention.
During those days I was having some problems in ministry, which had caused me to question my calling. Sharing my situation with a friend I said, “I wonder why men chose the ministry. Could it be that they preach for recognition and personal fulfillment?” He replied, “You don’t have a very high opinion of yourself, do you?” I had been sure of my calling and dedicated to it for years, but I had also become aware of my inadequacy. Could it be that the little boy, the alcoholic and the preacher all had a felt need to be heard and accepted? Each person should check his motives for what he does and find his fulfillment outside himself. The happiest people in the world think of others rather than themselves. Wasn’t that the way Jesus and his apostles lived? Isn’t their preaching and writing full of exhortations to self-denial and concern for others?
“Fix your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glorious grace.”
Fanny J. Crosby wrote. “My friend, Mrs. Jo­seph F. Knapp, com­posed a mel­o­dy and played it over to me two or three times on the pi­a­no. She then asked what it said. I re­plied, “Bles­sed as­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine!” Then Ms. Crosby wrote the following words for the music.
Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!O what a foretaste of glory divine!Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,I in my Savior am happy and blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Don’t say, “Look at me!” Say, “Look at Jesus and others “in the light of His glorious grace.”