About Awards and a Hymn

But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6

The World Book Dictionary in our home gives this definition for the word "award": "Something given as a reward, payment, or the like, after careful consideration; prize." I am very thankful to Barbara of Tidbits and Treasures for kindly giving me the above Excellence in Discipleship award, which originated at Dan King's Management by God blog where you can learn more about it.

Awards are one of those things in life that are blessings. We all like to receive them; they are good things. And I would venture to say that we all like to give them as well, because we like to give good things to others. At least as Christians, we should. But the last time I received one of these good things, I struggled. I wrote a post about it on July 30th, which expressed my heart about the whole matter.

This current award has to do with being a disciple of Christ. It was originally given to five recipients who "share the message in their own creative ways." Again, as before, I know so many bloggers who are sharing the message in innumerable creative ways: some are sharing the message by writing beautiful poetry; some by posting hymns and Scriptures; some tell interesting stories and apply them to the things of God; some are telling about happenings in their families, making application to biblical truth; some are writing fantastic devotionals; some are honoring God in the midst of trials; some are even using photography to honor the Creator; and on and on. So, I'm chicken. I don't want to pick out just five of these folks and I do NOT want to name names, because sure as anything, I'll leave out somebody that I'll kick myself for not mentioning.

One of the nice things about this is that eventually most folks will be picked for a particular award as it circulates, and usually it does finally reach most of the deserving blogs, but I can't bring myself to pick out just a few. So, my apologies to Barb and to Dan for not passing this on properly. I'm really thankful for it, and again, I think it's a good thing.

And our real reward is in heaven, right? Our Savior is the One who deserves all the glory and honor! All praise to Him! Hallelujah! I think I'll use this opportunity to post my Saturday hymn a day early and the second stanza of this one seems just right. For the rest of the stanzas of "Look, Ye Saints, the Sight is Glorious" and the tune, go here.

Crown the Saviour, angels, crown him;

Rich the tropies Jesus brings;

In the seat of pow'r enthrone him,

While the valt of heaven rings:

Crown him! crown him!

Crown the Saviour King of Kings.

~Thomas Kelly