Fervency

In preparation for our next message, on fervency, I offer a poem by one of my favorites, George Herbert.

Love (II)

Immortal Heat, O let thy greater flame

        Attract the lesser to it: let those fires

        Which shall consume the world, first make it tame,

And kindle in our hearts such true desires,

As may consume our lusts, and make Thee way.

        Then shall our hearts pant thee; then shall our brain

        All her invention on Thine altar lay,

And there in hymns send back Thy fire again:

Our eyes shall see Thee, which before saw dust;

        Dust blown by wit, till that they both were blind:

        Thou shalt recover all thy goods in kind,

Who wert disseized by usurping lust:

All knees shall bow to thee; all wits shall rise,

And praise him who did make and mend our eyes.

Notice, in this poem, that fervency is God's work in us (first five lines)

Fervency, then, is our response to God (lines 6-8)

And fervency comes from seeing reality (lines 9-14)