Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

Last Sunday we sang a particular song. Its a hymn originally written by Henry Lyte but set to music by Bill Moore.

Here are the words:

1. Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee.
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known.
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.

2. Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
O while Thou dost smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me,
Show Thy face and all is bright.

3. Man may trouble and distress me,
’Twill but drive me to Thy breast.
Life with trials hard may press me;
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

4. Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,
Come disaster, scorn and pain
In Thy service, pain is pleasure,
With Thy favor, loss is gain
I have called Thee Abba Father,
I have stayed my heart on Thee
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;
All must work for good to me.

5. Soul, then know thy full salvation
Rise o’er sin and fear and care
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
Think what Father’s smiles are thine,
Think that Jesus died to win thee,
Child of heaven, canst thou repine.

6. Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.
Heaven’s eternal days before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide us there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

© 2001 Bill Moore Music.

Its quite beautiful. The thing was, I’m a believer in singing what you believe and not singing what you don’t. I started singing this and got to thinking, “Do I really believe this?”

I mean, just look at some of those lines. “Perish every fond ambition”, “Friends disown me”, “Come disaster, scorn, and pain.” I don’t want that stuff. Like my friend Carol commented on this same song (and I’m kinda blatantly copying the idea for this post), “I want to get married some day, have a family, a nice home, a rewarding job, a dog.” Maybe the dog isn’t so necessary for me, but the point is the same. I don’t want to perish every fond ambition. I’m an ambitious sort of person, perhaps not Julius Caesar a la “Brutus says he was ambitious”, but I still have high aspirations. Disaster, scorn, and pain are things I would accept with my beliefs, but darn it, it I certainly don’t want them.

It just got me thinking about how we counter living in faith and trying to provide for the ones we love with realities like persecution and dangerous missions. What is God asking of us? What sacrifices are we willing to give? Also, what is God not asking of us? What goods and skills do we invest in and hold onto instead of throwing away? God has plans for his own glory and we may participate. In whatever avenue gives him glory, we will be truly satisfied.

The song ends with powerful eschatological ideas that we are in “Pilgrim Days.” How might my life be different if this was a reality instead of lyric?