“ALL ON THE ALTAR I LAY?”
“ALL ON THE
ALTAR I LAY?”
Dear Reader,
most congregations are familiar with that well known hymn “All on the
Altar I
Lay” … which is generally sung with all the enthusiasm of a dead wombat
lying
in the sun.
“That’s a
bit harsh!” you might say.
Mmmm! Let me
put it this way … the promise of eternal security with being dead in
Christ, can
bring about a sanctification that occurs only in the mind.
Let me put
it this way, God is the only one who can truly sing this song … “All on
the
Altar God has laid.”
Surely we
all must cringe when this hymn is the next seen on the hymn board to be
sung.
I mean
really … we should all walk out in shame and contempt
of
ourselves as the organist plays the intro to this hymn … leaving an
empty church
building.
I’m reminded
of Peter denying the Lord thrice … and his bitterness of tears … having
been
Mr. Number One.
Yes Dear
Reader, we are all too familiar with our own well concealed
self-condemnation
of our singing such theological truth in hypocrisy … or are we?
With our
mind we attempt to convince ourselves … but deep down we know
that we haven’t
laid all on the altar.
In fact we
know our position before God is a great gulf fixed between the
reality
and the truth in regard to this matter.
And of
course we read in “Voice of the Martyrs” and “Open Doors” of Christians
who
have come close to laying on the altar as anybody has. These people I
envision
will be sitting in the front row in heaven. Most of us will be up the
back pews.
These people
have undergone such suffering, to the point where the Adamic flint
of
their nature has been broken and crushed … resulting in the destruction
of
their heart and the conquering of their mind.
So the 99%
of the rest of us are faced with our insincerity and ‘mind
sanctification
surface skimming’.
Our mental
and logical sanctification … let us use the proper term here … holiness
… our
holiness walk that we walk, consists mostly in our minds, and can only
be
described as religious fiction.
There are four
steps to mind sanctification:
1. We mentally
put ourselves on God’s altar
2. Then
mentally … in our own mind … we tell ourselves that the altar
sanctifies our
gift
3. Then we
conclude that we must be sanctified
4. Then …
and here’s the crime … we go forth with a light hearted, carefree
and
flippant theological prattle about the deep things of God.
And further
still … with hand waving and babbling … seeking to cauterize and
overcome the word
of God that
“…
is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the
dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Dear Reader,
if you can follow … the natural strings of the heart have not
been cut …
there has not been a separation of our soul clinging to the
Adamic flint
… and that is only something God can do through our suffering
that only
he can bring about.
All books,
commentaries and all spiritual advice must be eventually swept away
till there
is nothing left between you and God’s judgment, mercy and grace.
Our Adamic flint
needs be ground into dust … realizing our sufferings are God’s
blessings to put
us into the harness of the Lord.
And even
then … dare we sing “All on the Altar we have laid?”
Harley
Hitchcock
May 2026
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