Oh Christ be magnified
From the altar of my life
Christ be magnified in meI won’t bow to idols, I’ll stand strong and worship You
And if it puts me in the fire, I’ll rejoice ’cause You’re there too
I won’t be formed by feelings, I hold fast to what is true
If the cross brings transformation then I’ll be crucified with YouCody Carnes / Cory Asbury / Ethan Gregory Hulse (2020)
These are some bold lyrics.
I love the song, but I remember thinking that it’s sometimes hard to rejoice in the fire, even when we know Jesus is with us.
Why?
Because fire hurts.
It’s painful and we don’t naturally lean into pain. We jerk away or try to find relief or an escape.
And I’m not talking about a little spark that hits your skin.
I mean when we are Held To The Flame so that impurities like dross from precious metals are removed – because we are precious to God.
It took me a long time to truly embrace the verse that says to consider it pure joy when trials like fire come my way.
The Message translation explains it like this:
“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.
You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.
So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.
Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
James 1:2-4 MSG
“Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.”
Somewhere in this blog, I compared our struggle against trials like a Chinese finger trap.
The more you move your hands and fight to be free, the tighter the grip becomes. It’s only when you relax your hands that the trap loosens.
In the same way, when we surrender to being crucified with Christ and allow Him to begin our transformation…the pain, hurt and embarrassment can serve a divine purpose.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 NIV
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
Like a controlled burn, it strips us down of our pride and selfish nature and leaves fertile soil for something new to grow, like the fruit of the Spirit.
Who really knows besides the Lord how long the refining process takes for each person through different trials? All that matters is at some point, while the embers still smolder, we become one with the lyrics of this song.
- When it is no longer about me and I am not “formed by feelings”
- When the “altar of my life” becomes a place of holiness instead of bitterness
- When I can take every thought captive and “hold fast to what is true”
- When I truly desire transformation by the cross and can be “crucified with You”
- When I can ”rejoice in the fire,” by understanding that I must decrease and be laid bare, so Jesus can increase and make me more like Him
Then I can proclaim the desire for “Christ to be magnified in me.”
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