Forgotten Honour - Fanny J Crosby and her Easter Cross Glory

Fanny J Crosby, is probably most well known for being the blind American hymn writer who wrote over 8000 gospel songs and poems. 

She was born in 1820 and died in 1925, aged 94. Maybe her two most famous hymns are 'To God be the Glory' and 'Blessed Assurance'.

Her life was far from boring! She was an only child and her father died when she was only 6 months old, so she was raised by a godly mother and grandmother who helped her memorise long passages of Scripture. By age 15 she had memorised all of the four gospels, the Pentateuch, Proverbs, and many Psalms. She was blind from a baby (possibly from birth or use of poultices for eye inflammation at age 6 weeks). At age 8 she wrote her first poem. She learnt to play several musical instruments and was good soprano singer. She advocated for the blind and performed before a President. She wrote other patriotic songs and sections of cantatas, and other poems. She married and had just one daughter who died in her sleep shortly after birth. She was also extensively active in rescue missions work in Manhattan and was ministering among the urban poor almost up until she died.

Her disability became her blessing and she was quoted as saying:

"It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me."

She also once said, "when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior".

(for more see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Crosby#)

However, though she overcame disability, became famous, and met with presidents and dignatories and had her songs sung all over the world, she did not seek glory for herself. It was God to whom she wanted the glory to be given. This was because her fame was not the source of her sense of significance or glory…as she expressed in the hymn of hers I want to highlight here...

1 Jesus, keep me near the cross,

There a precious fountain;

Free to all, a healing stream,

Flows from Calv'ry's mountain. 

Refrain:

In the cross, in the cross

Be my glory ever,

Till my ransomed soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

2 Near the cross, a trembling soul,

Love and mercy found me;

There the Bright and Morning Star

Shed His beams around me. [Refrain]

3 Near the cross! O lamb of God,

Bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day

With its shadow o'er me. [Refrain]

4 Near the cross! I'll watch and wait,

Hoping, trusting ever;

Till I reach the golden strand,

Just beyond the river. [Refrain]

It continues to amaze and encourage me how much Christians before our 'modern' era understood about honour. They had grasped depths of meaning that have been ignored, neglected or just 'missed' and overlooked in the last century or so. As Easter approaches, and we move through Lent, pondering the cross and all that it means, the words in her hymn above seem to have particular significance - especially the first two lines of the refrain.

In the cross, in the cross

Be my glory ever

It is interesting that these words about her glory being in the cross is what she included in the refrain, which would be repeated. By the time you finish singing the hymn it is this truth that has penetrated the heart of the singer/hearer the most, because you have sung it to yourself 4 times.

She is not talking about glory she would one day have in heaven…she is talking about the glory she has now, before heaven.

We often think that to give glory to God, there is 'no' glory for us, especially not on this earth. We think humility means we are 'nothing' and we just have to live as a worthless worm for now.

But that is only part truth. 

We are nothing in regard to what we can bring to gain our salvation. Even our righteousness is nothing more than shameful filthy rags. But God does not call us to forsake all hope of glory…but to forsake false glory in order to gain true glory. He calls us to come to Him to find in Him our true hope, our true glory - not just our creation human dignity but a new redeemed identity (Colossians 1:27). True humility is not having no glory at all, it is letting go of self-sourced glory, and glory that we seek for ourselves and stops with ourselves for our own self-exaltation. It is instead, finding our glory outside of ourselves as human beings, in and from the only one who is true glory. It is a glory received from the Creator, the God of Glory, instead of a glory that we have tried to achieve for ourselves from a created source (ie ourselves or from other people). And thus it is a glory that we give back to the One who gave it to us. Instead of a worldly glory that is achieved and jealously protected against fear of loss, we can live in a glory that is received and then willingly and freely given back without loss and with the confidence of knowing our glory is secure for 'ever'…as Fanny Crosby so rightly stated.

True glory only comes when we are willing to humbly let go of all false mis-placed glory, and when we realise that our only boast is in nothing related to us, but only in Christ who is our everything…because of the cross.

Fanny Crosby understood that very thing….that it was in the cross that her glory was rooted and rested. 

Her glory was entirely in and through Christ and His finished work on Calvary. As you read through the verses, we see that this cross-sourced-glory brought her healing, ransom, light and help and hope. It was all she needed for now and eternity. It covered her now (like a safe shadow) and would carry her for eternity. It was a glory that was like a refreshing fountain for her and strength to wait and trust for the fulfilling of that glory in even greater (golden) measure.

As you ponder the cross this Easter, may you find the joy of Christ, through the cross, being your glory for ever!