“The Immutable Basis for a Sinner’s Hope”

 “One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gracious Experience of a Christian.’”

These were the words uttered by a certain British pastor in the year 1834. The man was Edward Mote, and the resultant hymn he spoke about is the now world-famous hymn, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”.

The Man

Edward Mote was a pastor and hymn writer born in London on the 21^st of January 1797. Though he met Christ at the age of 18, only in his 50’s did he enter the ministry and was pastor at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham. West Sussex for 26 years.

Mote wrote around 100 hymns, but by far the best known of them is “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”.

The Hymn

“My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” is part of the gospel hymns genre. The first stanza declares God’s grace; stanzas 2 and 3 concern the application of that grace in times of trouble. In the final stanza, Mote brings his hymn full circle with the ultimate realization of God’s grace.

The refrain of “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” refers to the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders and builds around the metaphor of Christ as a rock with a firm basis in Scripture (1 Cor. 10:4).

Mote’s original title for the hymn was “The Immutable Basis for a Sinner’s Hope”. I believe that this alternate title, though the words themselves aren’t in the hymn, is a precise summary of the message this lovely hymn presents.

The words have blessed saints and sinners for centuries, and are worth meditating upon once again:

 ‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.’

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN