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"Blest Be The Tie"
One of the most touching and pensive hymns we offer in our worship services is Blest Be The Tie. The sentiment expressed in that song has great appeal and states beautifully what is actually a great and lasting truth. It is a melody which speaks beautifully of a tie that binds.
There actually is a tie that binds. Those who have been in the service of the King for any length of time know that there are tender feelings of mutuality among His people. When a Christian goes on a trip and stops somewhere to meet with the saints, he finds a warm feeling of fellowship, one much like that feeling of being with “relatives” (they are, you know). Yes, there is a tie that binds Christians together.
Sameness of mind is one of the things that binds us together (Romans 12:16). Great pressure has been levied against Christians at various times in history. Yet, because of their sameness of mind, there has never been a force strong enough to separate them. In Acts chapter 8, following the arrival of great persecutions at Jerusalem, the saints of God were forced to leave home, family, and friends. Still there was a tie that bound them together. In spite of great peril and in the face of great persecution, they went forth proclaiming the great gospel to which they were so committed (Acts 8:4).
Oneness of direction is a tie that binds those of like-precious faith. When we find folks that are headed to the same place we are, we are disposed to feel kindly toward them. We walk together because we’re headed in the same direction. The wise prophet of old asked, “How can two walk together, except they be agreed (Amos 3:3)? That’s just it. Christians walk together because they are agreed. Even when we meet new people, if they are followers of Christ, we respect, admire, even love them because we know where they’ve been and we know where they’re going. We walk the same course ( I Corinthians 4:16); we’re headed in the same direction ( Hebrews 6:12). Another of the ties that bind.
Christians are motivated by the same principle of love ( I John 3:1). Love is the most forceful adhesive known to man. It is the greatest of all commands, the producer of otherwise impossible relationships. God is love–the essence of it, the totality of it. It is What and Who He is. It has the power to bind like no other force or energy. Its awesome power can bring sinners to God (I John 3:16). It can cement people into lasting relationships–relationships that otherwise would have never been possible. It will join together the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the socially acceptable and those who are not. It will cause care, concern, and an abiding fellowship between different races, colors, and backgrounds. Love is the principle of all principles, the highest of all motives. The introduction of love into a relationship will make a tie so binding that no force on earth has the power to break it.
Furthermore, there is a mutual hope which has much to do with the tie that binds the people of God to one another. It is hope that has been properly described as “the polar star of the soul.” It keeps all Christians looking up in the same direction. If we are watching together for what we earnestly desire–and expect to one day receive–we have a strong motivation to press on, to continue to work toward that goal of which we have been assured (Hebrews 6:19). A man will work for what he desires, especially when we have been informed that at the end of that labor he will be rewarded. And what a reward it will be! Since we are all motived by this common hope, we are all tied to one another, and, by the grace of God, to God Almighty. Again, what a reward we will share (I Peter 1:3)!
Few beauties can compare with that tie of love that binds Christians together–with God and with one another. In fact, might I just affirm that, “the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”
