Monday July 25

Ephesians 5:19  Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

Take My Life And Let It Be – Frances Havergal, 1874

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

Above, I have the first verse of this wonderful hymn that many of us have sung in our worship services.  In the midst of this verse I believe the Lord allowed me to see a picture of something in a way I hadn’t seen it before.  It came in an instant and I saw and understood it.

This verse talks about our lives – our moments and our days.  Our prayer is to let them flow in ceaseless praise.  Think of that ceaseless praise as a symphony – performed by an entire orchestra – not an individual.  Drums, strings, woodwinds and brass – All the musicians, with their many different instruments, have their appropriate parts to play.  The symphony is to be a harmonious blend of them all.  They are all to be in-tune with each other! – And must follow the conductor’s lead in order to blend together.

In this picture, I saw that our lives, consisting of thoughts, attitudes, actions, words, intents, motives and everything about us – are continually doing two things.  First, our lives are creating a musical score.  Second, our lives are playing as a symphony, the score as we create it.  Each and every one of these aspects of our lives is an instrument and plays a part.  Nothing is left out.  Nothing is too small or insignificant.  Nothing is silent.

The question becomes, ‘How do we sound?’  Is the ‘music’ pleasing or discordant?  A pleasing sound is dependent upon the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and our obedience to walk in His ways.  Nothing escapes His care and attention.  We are to become increasingly responsive to His touch.  When we co-operate with Him, He will bring everything in our lives into submission to His will.  He will create within us the harmony and the wonder of a symphony of life that will glorify our Lord.

Unknown's avatar

About Don Schmidt

Beginning in the fall of 2009, Don was VP of Operations & Director of Student Life for 2 years at Williamson Christian College in Franklin, TN - a wonderful, accredited 4 year college for adult learners. That is where he started writing the devotionals. The passion of his heart is to love God and to help others learn to love God more and more. He grew up in St. Joseph, MI - Class of '66. Graduated from Michigan State in '70 and Wheaton Grad School in '78. Thunderous conversion October 11, 1968. He and Donna were engaged 2 hrs & 15 minutes after they met August 25, 1969 at a Christian camp in Georgia. They married in '70 and have 4 wonderful sons. Most of his adult career has been in business in NE Ohio. They lived for 20 years in Peninsula, OH. They attended St. Luke's Ministries (Anglican) in Copley, OH for many years. Seven years ago they were reassigned by the Lord to attend River of Life Community Church in Hudson, OH. St. Luke's prayerfully sent them off on this new adventure with much love.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Monday July 25

  1. James's avatar James says:

    Great devo today, Don. I’m glad Donna made it safely. I think that this idea is so hard to understand in a consumer-driven spiritual culture. People don’t naturally understand the idea that their walk with God affects me and the church. If there is unconfessed sin and idolatry in my heart, I am playing dissonant chords that throw off the symphony and ruin the entire masterpiece. We simply don’t approach the spiritual world as a community like God intended us to do. We approach Jesus as an individual and we serve him as an individual and we forget this essential truth that our faith, or lack of faith, contributes to the global kingdom work.

Leave a comment