Romans 12:1-Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

          Frances Havergal was born in England in 1836 and died in 1879 at the age of 42. She was in frail and delicate health throughout her brief life, yet she was an avid student, writer, and composer.  She is often referred to as “The consecration poet.” It was said about her that the beauty of a consecrated life has never been more perfectly revealed than in her daily living. Her father was an Anglican minister who for many years was involved in improving and composing English hymnody and he greatly encouraged the natural talents of his daughter both in composing verse and music. Frances was a natural musician with a voice so pleasing that she was often sought after as a concert soloist. She was also known as a brilliant pianist. Frances had a vital conversion experience as an early adolescent and wrote this about her experience, “There and then I committed my soul to the Savior-and earth and heaven seemed bright from that moment on.” She wrote around fifty published hymns and it is said that she never wrote a single line of poetry without first praying over it. By far her most well-known hymn is Take My Life And Let It Be.  She wrote this hymn towards the end of her life after having what appeared to be a re-dedication of her life to Christ. At the age of 36 (six years before her death) she came across a little booklet titled All For Jesus. This booklet stressed the importance of making Christ King of every corner and cubicle of one’s life. Soon after, she made a fresh and complete consecration of herself to Christ.  When asked about it she said, “Yes, it was on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1873, I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash of electric light, and what you see you can never un-see. There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness.” About the book (All For Jesus) she is quoted as saying it “lifted her whole life into sunshine, of which all she had previously experienced was but as pale and passing April gleams, compared with the fullness of summer glory.” Needless to say she experienced a new depth in her walk with Christ. Shortly after that experience she went on a five day visit in which she found herself staying in a house that had ten people in it, many who were not believers.  She prayed to God “Lord, give me all that are in this house.” He did just that. Before she left all ten people had an encounter with Christ.  On the last night of her visit, too excited to sleep because of what God had done in the lives of those people, she stayed up all night and wrote the hymn Take My Life And Let It Be. 

          In the years that followed she frequently used this hymn in her own devotions, especially every December 2nd, the anniversary of the re-dedication of her life to Christ.  On one occasion, as she pondered the words, “take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King,” she felt she should give up her secular concerts. She was in demand as a soloist and frequently sang with the Philharmonic but from that moment on her lips were exclusively devoted to the songs of the Lord. On another occasion she was praying over the stanza that says, “take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold” and realized she had accumulated a great deal of jewelry over her life. She felt that God was calling her to donate that jewelry to the Church Missionary Society.  She told a friend, “I retain only a brooch for daily wear, which is a memorial to my dear parents; also a locket with the portrait I have of my niece in heaven. I had no idea I owned such a jeweler’s shop; nearly fifty articles are being packed off. I don’t think I need to tell you I never packed a box with such pleasure.” At the age of 42 when told by a physician that she did not have long to live Miss Havergal replied “if I am really going, it is too good to be true.”

          I will say this about Frances Havergal and her song, I find it very interesting that she re-dedicated her life to Christ, and it was AFTER that she wrote her most effective and long-lasting hymn. I’m currently reading the book No Comprise which is the biography of the life of the Christian musician Keith Green who died in a plane crash at the age of 28.  Keith got saved in early adulthood and had a pretty prolific and successful ministry almost immediately but he had a re-dedication of his life several years into his ministry.  It was after that re-dedication that God really started to use his preaching at his concerts as well as his songs. He didn’t really preach before the re-dedication. My favorite musician, Rich Mullins, would say in his concerts to youth, “you kids you go to church camp every year and you get saved. And then you go again next year and you get saved again. It’s good that you get saved every year. What you find out as you get older is that you start needing to get saved every 6 months or so. And then a few years later you’ll find yourself getting saved every single month. And once you hit adulthood you find yourself re-dedicating your life to Christ just about every week.

I think what Rich Mullins is saying is exactly right. There is no point in our lives where we reach full spiritual maturity and no longer battle with sin or get to the point where we can’t learn anything more in our walk with Christ. We battle against our flesh until the day we are called home. That’s why we sing this hymn and other songs like it every single Sunday.  It’s a prayer of dedication and consecration to God.  And it’s our way of re-dedicating our lives to Christ every single week. At our core we are fickle people who are self-centered and we have to continually remind ourselves of what God has done for us. Songs like this help us realize who it is that we are living for.  We are not our own. We were bought with a price. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship-Romans 12:1

Categories: Hymns of the Faith Paul Austin

jenniferhop83