I think of an authority as someone who is a university professor, or someone who knows more about a subject than almost anyone else. I’m not an authority, but I have a degree of expertise in metal and engineering technology, software development, teaching and education, instructional design and technical writing.
I do love the notion of becoming an authority on a subject, but it would take a great deal of effort to go into a subject in such depth. At this stage of my life, I do enjoy revisiting the subjects that I studied throughout my life, but I’m also keen to explore new subjects. So I’m more interested in breadth than depth.
From a spiritual perspective, I’ve spent many years studying the Bible, Church history, theology and all sorts of topics that relate to these. Currently I’m very keen to get to know more about hymns and spiritual songs. Only yesterday, I discovered a cool app for my phone: Christian Hymns. It’s a book that I discovered many years ago. It’s produced by the Evangelical Movement of Wales, but we used the hymn book in Tipperary Christian Fellowship alongside Mission Praise.
I’ve used the book, for many years, but it’s great to have instant access to the tunes and to explore new features. And I enjoy reading books on how various hymns came to be written.
I would like to go to Cambridge University and become an authority on particle physics, but I can’t see that happening any time soon 😀. But maybe I can become an expert in hymns. I don’t suppose that I could totally learn 1,000 hymns, but I’d at least like to open every hymn book, know the tune instantly, and be somewhat familiar with its background and meaning. And ultimately, it’s all about gaining a deeper knowledge and love for God. Much of what I learned about technology is out of date now. It’s not like that with Scripture:
Matt 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Heb 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
As a teacher I’ve been learning, you’ll forgive me if I boast,
But I’ve now become an expert on the subject I like most Getting to Know You
In the King and I, it was sung to children. Maybe some might use it as a love song. But maybe you could think of the King of Kings too.
I like to study hymns from different eras. Here are three about getting to know God at a deeper level. One is old, the next is somewhat modern, and the last is very modern. I like the old ones, but it’s good that hymns are produced in different genres. They even have heavy metal hymns. I would think that God is more concerned with what’s going on in hearts, so I try not to be judgemental about the different genres. God never expressed a preference for victorian hymns 😀.
Hibernia Gospel 