Take My Life

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
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.


Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.


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.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.

Frances Havergill - Feb 1874

This hymn is a simple prayer and undoubtedly familiar to many.  Though simple in its meaning, it is the heart of the Christian submission to the Lordship of Christ, itself described by Jesus as 'dying'.  It is not easy to die to self and live in Jesus.


Sinful nature is desperate for life, it will grasp the greatest of our good intentions and turn them inward and smother them in self-centredness and so ruin their outcome.  Sin in us will arise and awaken when all other strength is diminished and spent.  Our sinful nature must be poisoned by great drafts the Truth of God's Word, weakened in being exposed to the beauty of God's holiness and made sick in the transforming of the heart by the renewing of the mind in the submission of self to Jesus.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:24-28