Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee;
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy
love.
Take my love, my God, I pour at thy feet its treasure
store;
Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for thee.
---Frances R. Havergal, 1874
Confession time, readers: most modern hymnals get this title right.
But I grew up singing out of the white 1975 Baptist Hymnal, which told me the
title of this hymn was, indeed, not “Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated", but “Take My Life and Let It Be". Could two phrases be any more different? One asks of
God, “Take the gift of this life and make of it something holy, dedicated to
you in whatever it finds to do.” The other is the ultimate modern ‘gotcha’ statement: “Take my life…well, no, I need to borrow
it back to accomplish these very important things for myself…ok, here you go,
God…nope, need it back, good times to enjoy….ok, all yours now….well, take my
life, but LET ME BE is what I
really mean.”
Are you ready to pour the treasure store of your love, your
very life, at the feet of God? Do you want God to let your life be consecrated,
or just to let you be?
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