July 27
FACE TO FACE
Carrie E. Breck, 1855–1934
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2, 3)
For some the concept of heaven is a place of peaceful resting. Others envision it as filled with golden streets and sounds of beautiful music. For most of us the thought of reuniting with loved ones is comforting. However, the most thrilling anticipation for every believer when he reflects about heaven is surely the moment of seeing our Savior “face to face.”
The thoughts so well expressed in “Face to Face” were written by a busy wife and mother who by her own admission could not carry a tune. She had only a sense of rhythm. She said, “I penciled verses under all conditions; over a mending basket, with a baby on my arm, and sometimes even when sweeping or washing dishes, my mind moved in poetic meter.” Living with her husband and five daughters in Portland, Oregon, Carrie Breck was a deeply committed Christian and life-long member of the Presbyterian church.
Mrs. Breck occasionally sent some of her poems to a composer of gospel hymns, Grant Colfax Tullar, with the hope that he would set them to suitable music. Amazingly, when the verses of “Face to Face” arrived in the mail one day, Mr. Tullar had just completed the music for a song with words that did not fully please him. The lines of Mrs. Breck’s text, however, were a perfect fit for the music he had composed.
Face to face with Christ, my Savior, face to face—what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me!
Only faintly now I see Him, with the darkling veil between; but a blessed day is coming, when His glory shall be seen.
What rejoicing in His presence, when are banished grief and pain, when the crooked ways are straightened and the dark things shall be plain.
Face to face—O blissful moment! Face to face—to see and know; face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loves me so.
Chorus: Face to face I shall behold Him, far beyond the starry sky; face to face, in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by!
For Today: Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17
Anticipate the joy it will be to greet our Savior and to fully “see and know”—when the “crooked ways are straightened” and the “dark things shall be plain.” Share this hope with someone. Rejoice with this musical truth as you go—
Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996). 226.
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