Can you believe that May is already half over? To me, it feels like we should probably be less than a week in! But here we are: ready for our Monthly Melody Discussion. Do you know what that means? It means that we all have the opportunity to share with each other what thoughts we’ve had about More Like the Master and any ways it has related to our lives so far this month. And if you haven’t gotten to listen to it yet, now is the perfect time for you to hear it for the first time!
As usual, I will break down our song into sections and share Bible verses that go with it as well as some of my own thoughts.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:5-7
More Like the Master
More like the Master I would ever be,
More of His meekness, more humility;
More zeal to labor, more courage to be true,
More consecration for work He bids me do.
More like the Master I would ever be,
More of His meekness, more humility;
More like the Master, Jesus our Savior. This is the desire of every earnest Christian, to grow to be more like Jesus. We all want to be more like Him in theory, but sometimes it doesn’t always play out in our actions. For example, we may let pride get in our way and hold a grudge against someone or cling to some other kind of sin.
It’s a lot easier to say “I want to be more like the Master,” than it is to actually live it. And the truth is, the only way to become more like Him is to surrender and let Him live His perfect life through us. To become like Jesus, we must humble ourselves, just as He humbled Himself and left the splendors of Heaven to come to a dark, sin-riddled world and die on a cross.
And being found in fashion as a man, he (Jesus) humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:8
More zeal to labor, more courage to be true,
More consecration for work He bids me do.
Zeal. That’s something we can all use more of. It may be easy in theory to tell the Lord that we want to work for Him. But do you know what? That work doesn’t always look the way we imagine it. We may be thinking of ways that we can do a “big” work such as become a missionary, witness to others, sing in church, or some other ministry. These are all good things that are part of serving Jesus, but that’s far from all!
Ministry may look like cooking another meal. Washing the same dishes that you washed yesterday. Cleaning the bathroom. Folding yet another pile of laundry. Stopping what you are doing to help another family member or play with a sibling. These “little” things are not little in the eyes of the Lord, and He will reward them when we do them for Him.
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Luke 16:10
Chorus:
Take Thou my heart, I would be Thine alone;
Take Thou my heart and make it all Thine own.
Purge me from sin, O Lord, I now implore,
Wash me and keep me Thine forevermore.
Chorus:
Take Thou my heart, I would be Thine alone;
Take Thou my heart and make it all Thine own.
This sounds like another song that says, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” Surrendering to the Lord is not easy. Even though in our minds we know that God is far wiser than we are and that He does all things well, still our hearts deceive us into thinking that things will go better if we are in control. This is a lie straight from the enemy. As long as we keep believing this lie and trying to chart our own course, we cannot grow and become ‘more like the Master.’
Surrender is not a once and done thing. There may be times where God leads us to surrender something big to Him and give Him our all, and we gain a big victory in His strength, but this is not enough. We must daily, hourly, even every moment surrender our wills to His. As the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily.”
Wrong thoughts and temptations will come. We will be tempted to do what we want to do instead of what we know is right. But if we, in that moment of temptation, surrender to the Lord and ask Him to take control, we can have victory!
To be like Jesus, we must be willing to surrender, just as He did.
And he (Jesus) was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luke 22:41-42
Purge me from sin, O Lord, I now implore,
Wash me and keep me Thine forevermore.
None of us are naturally like Jesus. We are all sinners who do wrong things. Jesus lived a perfect life and only did those things that pleased God. He also died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. Because of this, we can now come to God and ask Him to forgive us of our sins. When we confess and forsake our sins, then God gives us the perfect record of Jesus and views us as though we had never sinned! What a privilege that we do not deserve!!
There will still be times that we do wrong, and we need to continually come to God, asking Him to show us where we have gone wrong and confessing our sins. The only way to become like our righteous and holy Master is to confess and forsake our sins.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psam 139:23-24
More like the Master is my daily prayer;
More strength to carry crosses I must bear;
More earnest effort to bring His kingdom in,
More of His Spirit, the wanderer to win. (Chorus)
More like the Master is my daily prayer;
More strength to carry crosses I must bear;
All of us have crosses. Some are big; some are small. In reality, sometimes it’s the little crosses that can be so hard to bear. We may be able to wrestle through and become patient in bearing the hard things. But sometimes the little things come at a time when we are not expecting them. These little irritations “get under our skin” and we react to them.
May we become more like the Master who patiently bore every cross that He faced. From the smaller inconveniences of life all the way up to the biggest cross of all – the cross of Calvary – He faced them with patience and submission to the will of His Heavenly Father.
And when he (Jesus) had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mark 8:34
More earnest effort to bring His kingdom in,
More of His Spirit, the wanderer to win. (Chorus)
This is something we can all use more of. More of a desire to win souls and a willingness to witness for Jesus wherever He calls and to whomever He asks us to. And while it is important for us to do our part in reaching others, prayer is even more important. We should be asking God to send His Holy Spirit to people, for He is the only One Who can draw them.
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1,3-4
More like the Master I would live and grow;
More of His love to others I would show;
More self-denial, like His in Galilee,
More like the Master I long to ever be. (Chorus)
More like the Master I would live and grow;
More of His love to others I would show;
How much love our Master has for us!! Sometimes it just bubbles up inn our hearts and we want other people to know and experience it as we have! One way we can help this to happen is by letting His love flow through us. When we do this, our behaviour will become like Jesus’ behaviour, and the world will begin to see Him and His love through us.
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:2
More self-denial, like His in Galilee,
More like the Master I long to ever be. (Chorus)
It’s not easy to be like the Master. The life that Jesus lived here was not easy. To be like Jesus, we have to deny ourselves and take up our crosses. Why do we do this? There are a few reasons. One is to obey the commands of God. We can obey out of a heart of love because Jesus gave His all for us. Another reason to deny ourselves and lay everything down is because of the reward in Heaven we are promised. Jesus gave His all for us; how can we do less for Him?
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
John 15:20
(Disclaimer: While I enjoyed the video of this particular hymn and wanted to share it with you, this does not mean that I endorse every video on this channel.)
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Let’s Chat!
Did you listen to the Monthly Melody? What part was your favorite? Did any part of the song relate to your life so far this month?
I’m glad we are learning a new song together this month. Let’s keep singing songs of praise to our Lord, for He is worthy!!
In Christ,
Bethany
“More zeal to labor, more courage to be true,..” THAT is my prayer! Love this! Thank you for sharing!
Amen! This is my prayer as well. More zeal in faithfully doing each task, big or small, that God brings my way. And more courage to trust my Lord! Thank you for being a sweet encouragement to me, Micah!