I grew up singing the hymn, “Take my Life, and Let It Be.” It was standard fare in the church of my youth. The organist played the hymn slow–real slow. All six stanzas at a snail’s pace. By the time I finished the song, I had unwittingly committed my moments, days, hands, feet, voice, lips, silver, gold, intellect, will and love to the Lord. Clearly, I did not have my mind on what I was doing. My thoughts were consumed with a far more pressing issue, namely myself!
The hymn writer Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) made a decision to follow Christ at fifteen at a boarding school for girls in London. At eighteen, she was confirmed in Worchester Cathedral on Advent Sunday in 1873. The bishop placed his hands over her and prayed, “Defend, O Lord, this thy child with thy heavenly grace, that she may continue as thine forever, until she come into thy everlasting kingdom.” She wrote of the moment, “If ever my heart followed a prayer, it was then.” Frances proceeded to memorize the entire New Testament (except Acts), the Psalms (all one hundred fifty Psalms!), Isaiah (all sixty-six chapters!) and the Minor Prophets (twelve books!). And I pat myself on the back if I can recall a single verse! She turned down several marriage proposals because she felt her suitors hindered her full consecration to Christ.
Frances wrote hundreds of hymns for use in worship, including “Take my Life.” She composed it while staying at a friend’s home in 1874. Of the ten members in her friend’s family, some were believers and others were not. Most of the believers were, in Frances’ words, “not happy Christians.” She prayed that by the end of her stay all ten would come to know Christ more fully. Her prayer was answered, and she went to bed on the last evening with a phrase running through her head, “Ever, only, all for thee.” She couldn’t sleep and composed the hymn in the span of a few hours. We join today in consecrating our lives to the Lord: