Our Hope is Built on Nothing Less

By Holly Scheer

I love to sing hymns. I sing them in the car (sorry people stuck driving with me), I sing them as I put my kids to bed, I hum them absentmindedly throughout my day.

One I find myself coming back to quite frequently is, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” by Edward Mote.

The text of the hymn, if you’re not familiar, is as follows:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, and blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

It’s interesting to note that the hymn was based on 1 Tim 1– the parable of the wise and foolish builder. Mote, before becoming a pastor, was a cabinet maker. It seems that his early experience in building gave him an affinity for this text and gave us in turn a hymn that many of us know by heart.

Photo Credit to Thank you for visiting my pa. Some rights reserved.