Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3).
This passage by our brother Paul tells us that we put on a new self. In the context, verse 1, Paul says, “if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is.” Doing this, Paul says now that our lives are hidden with Christ. This is not only a future hope, but an accomplished fact right now. Our work and service and conduct do not earn our salvation, but they are the result of our salvation; we are in Christ.

This verse was the inspiration for the lovely hymn, “I Am His, and He Is Mine” or “Loved with Everlasting Love.” The author was an Irish pastor named George Wade Robinson. He was born in Cork, Ireland in 1838. He attended college in Dublin and London, and became a pastor in churches in Dublin, London and Brighton.

“Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace!
O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.”

Robinson wrote several books of poems, and this hymn is part of one of those books. You can tell about his talent to write poetry even in this same hymn. Read the second stanza.

“Heav'n above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in ev'ry hue
Christ-less eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o'er flow,
Flow'rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.”

Some people believe that, beside the passage of Colossians, Robinson got the inspiration for this hymn after hearing D. L. Moody preaching and personal testimony during his evangelistic campaign.

Let me share what Robert J. Morgan says about this hymn.
“The presence of Christ in our hearts makes the sun brighter, the sky bluer, the grass greener, the birds sweeter, and the flowers lovelier – since we know, as now we know, that ‘I am His, and He is mine.’”

“His forever, only His;
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav'n and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline,
But while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine.
Firstborn light in gloom decline,
But while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine.”
​
In His service,
Israel