Thursday, May 16, 2013

Take My Life?

A familiar hymn starts with this:
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

And ends with this:
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee. *

The hymn goes on to describe the various ways in which the life of the singer is totally given over to Jesus. 

Totally given over to Jesus? That's a rather bold thing to promise. Think of the implications. Those words 'ever, only, all' cover a lot of territory. And yet, isn't that a part of what it means to declare that 'Jesus is Lord'? We live for Jesus' sake. That means that He can do with us whatever He thinks will advance His fame. And that word, 'whatever', also covers a lot of territory. 

And it isn't just that some hymn writer got a little exuberant with his lyrics. Jesus also talked in these terms when someone was considering becoming one of His disciples. 
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 
And this is where love for Jesus shows itself. The disciple who loves Jesus is excited about the possibility that his own life might make Jesus look really good. Yes, it might hurt. But there will be grace to deal with that. And yes, there may well be some good things missed out on. But that's what eternity is for. The joy of making Jesus look as good as He really is makes all of that worth it.

* (You can read all the verses here.)