Take My Life and Let It Be

As much as I love some of the new, uplifting praise songs, there are some old hymns which will always speak directly to my heart. Today I listened to the WOW Hymns CD and I was reminded at the amazing words of Take My Life and Let It Be (lyrics by Frances R. Havergal.)

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
To be consecrated means to set apart and dedicate to a purpose. Imagine the results if we all lived daily, totally dedicating our lives to God. Imagine the results if we lived everyday constantly praising God!

Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Imagine the difference if the only actions our hands made were made at God's moving. If everything we did was led by the Father's love, and not our own desires. Beautiful feet are feet that are moving to bring the message of Christ to the world. Imagine if every step we took was working toward bringing more people to Him.

Take my voice, and let me sing, always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
What if our voices, good or bad, sang always the praises of the God who made us. What if every single word that left our mouths were words of God. Not always quoting scripture, but always speaking words that God would want spoken. Imagine the difference in our marriages, our children, our jobs and our churches!

Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Think of the money you waste on things that do not in any way glorify the Father. Imagine if that money went to the work of spreading the gospel. Imagine if our thoughts and our gifts weren't used for our own gain, but for the Father's.

Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
What if we wanted nothing more than the message of Christ shared the Father. What if our hearts were a throne. No one sits on a throne but the king. Who or what else do we let sit on the throne of our hearts?

Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
Imagine if we gave everything for all of our lives to God. What would the world look like?