Matthew 6:22-23 Her Blessed Blind Faith
This part of the Sermon on the Mount is now talking about treasure and the light of the kingdom of heaven and Jesus tells His followers that the eye is the light of the body. As I was asking the Lord how to teach this passage, I remember the great and wonderful talent of the hymn and poem writer Fanny Crosby (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915). Fanny was a famous Christian hymn composer of her time, the only child of her parents. At six weeks old, Crosby caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes but was blinded by a quark doctor. Her youth had more sadness other than her blindness, her father died when she was six months old, after that she was raised by her Christian mother and grandmother. They raised her by word of God. She learned to memorize scripture and began to write poems based on her love for God’s word. She never felt sorry for her condition and wrote this poem; Oh, what a happy soul I am, although I cannot see! I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy That other person don’t weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot, and I won’t! In 1873 Fanny was visited by Phoebe Knapp who had a pipe organ and wanted to play a melody Knapp had stuck in her mind. When Knapp finished playing the tune she asked Fanny, “What do you think the tune says?”, Crosby replied, “Blessed assurance; Jesus is mine. This is the reason why I put Fanny Crosby’s story with Matthew 6:22-23, Fanny had no eyesight. No light entered her eyes to help her see, but yet her love for the word of the Lord put her classical hymns in mostly many Christian churches of different denominations. She had light from Jesus and no darkness of the sinful world that told her she was blind. In the modern world where people sing more songs about the darkness, we Christians can still open our hymnals and sing Fanny Crosby songs about how to see the light of Jesus and not feel sorry about anything, cause, Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine and yours. God bless you all, the Lord loves you and so do I, Samuel J H.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
