I Gave My Life For Thee

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/yu33g5

No one alive today knows what Jesus looked like. But that doesn’t stop the artists from giving their own depictions of His likeness. Many paintings and sculptures have been crafted over the centuries and most are very moving. One such painting titled Ecce Homo, or “Behold the Man” depicted Christ with a crown of thorns looking back upon the viewer. Below was the caption, “I have done this for you; what have you done for me?”

That painting became the inspiration for many works. In the early 1700s a young German boy viewed the painting and determined that although he believed in Jesus and loved Him very much, he really hadn’t done much of anything for Christ. So he set out to do more and became a very influential missionary around the world.

More than a century later that same painting inspired a young 17 year old girl. Frances Havergal was traveling in Germany and became very tired. She sat down to rest in a museum just opposite that painting. As she studied the picture and read the lines beneath she was very moved.

She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a few lines down. This later became the song, I Gave My Life For Thee.

I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,

That thou might’st ransomed be, and quickened from the dead;

I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for me?

I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for me?

Frances took that paper back home to England but after she read it a few more times she really didn’t like it very much. She tossed that paper into the fire, but somehow it fell back out of the grate. Some time later she showed it to her father who was very impressed with the words. He wrote a melody for that piece and eventually so also did the famous composer, Philip Bliss. It is the arrangement by Bliss that most are familiar with today.

Viewing great works of art can be a very inspiring event. Knowing that some great artist had actually carved that statue or painted those very strokes can help us to draw closer to the passion they had when they created the work.

But you and I need not fly to Europe to view such works in order to draw closer to God. The artist that painted that portrait of Jesus painted from his heart and with a message that would draw people to want to serve Jesus. He didn’t know what Jesus looked like, but he did know that Jesus died a horrible death and that He wants us to work for Him.

How did he know these things? What inspired the artist to create such a compelling piece of art? The Bible. God’s own word was the inspiration that compelled such a great work.

And, friends, you and I have that same powerful book of inspiration in our own homes today. We turn and read that wonderful story of God’s love that caused Him to send His only Son to die in our place. Paul tells us the following in Romans 5:8-11.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Jesus not only gave His life for us, but He also suffered an agonizing death to pay for our pardon. He left the glory of heaven to come to earth and brought down salvation, full and free, for us.

All this Jesus did for us. What have we done for Him?

On Our Daily Walk today, may we take a few moments to reflect on our commitment to Jesus. May we determine to improve the ways in which we draw others to our Savior and may we ever be known as followers of our Lord.

Our thought for the day: “I have held many things in my hands and lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” Martin Luther

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.