I'll Wish I Had Given Him More

In the early 80s, I first heard this song. It wasn't a new song, but this was the first time I heard it. It was regularly sung as a solo piece at that time:

By and by when I look on His face,
Beautiful face, thorn-shadowed face;
By and by when I look on His face,
I'll wish I had given Him more

More, so much more —
More of my life than I e'er gave before.
By and by when I look on His face,
I'll wish I had given Him more.

By and by when He holds out His hands,
Welcoming hands, nail riven hands;
By and by when He holds out His hands,
I'll wish I had given Him more.

More, so much more,
More of my love than I e'er gave before,
By and by when He holds out His hands,
I'll wish I had given Him more.

In the light of that heavenly place,
Light from His face, beautiful face;
In the light of that heavenly place,
I'll wish I had given Him more.

More, so much more,
Treasures unbounded for Him I adore,
By and by when I look on His face,
I'll wish I had given Him more.

(Grace Reese Adkins, 1948)

When we reach the gates of heaven, we look forward to hearing Jesus say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord"
(Matthew 25:21), but will we also have some regrets? Will we wish that we had given Him more?

Ecclesiastes 9:10 - Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…

The only time we have to serve the Lord is now. The past is gone and the future is unknown. There will come a day when we no longer have the opportunity to serve the Lord, and none of us knows when that day will be, so let's serve God now. Let's make full use of the time which God has given us. Let's not wait for some big opportunity, or until we know more or are more mature or think we have more time. Let's throw all our heart and soul into serving God now. We might not be fully skilled or have reached a state of perfection, but we can serve God wholeheartedly and do the best we can, relying on the Holy Spirit to compensate for our imperfections.

I think the secret of serving God with all our heart, or with all our might, is to regard it not as work, but as worship. When we serve God, God receives it as worship, because it's not done for our own benefit, or even for someone else's benefit, but it's done out of our love and gratitude towards God. We want to serve Him because we love Him and in order to fulfil His calling on our lives. This is why we do everything 'as unto the Lord' because all of our service is for the Lord, not for human masters.

John 9:4 – I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

These are the words of Jesus. Like the verses in Ecclesiastes and Colossians, Jesus is saying that now is the time to serve the Lord. A time is coming when it will be too late. But Jesus is also saying something else here. He is saying that He must do 'the works of Him who sent me'. We have heard the phrase, "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well". Well, if we are working for God and doing something for His glory, then that is certainly worth doing well – and everything that God wants us to do is certainly worth doing and is worth doing well. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God has already prepared in advance the works that we should be doing:

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Jesus is our supreme example. He only did what the Father told Him to do. He only said what the Father told Him to say. He only went where the Father told Him to go. And He put all of His effort into it. He put His heart and soul into it. He wasn't half-hearted. He didn't just make a feeble attempt. He wasn't lukewarm, perfunctory, doing something just for the sake of doing it, lacklustre, Laodicean. No, he summoned all that was within Him. He served God with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. His whole life was worship to God. And so should ours be.

This is my desire to honour You
Lord, with all my heart, I worship You
All I have within me, I give You praise
All that I adore is in You

Lord, I give You my heart
I give You my soul, I live for You alone
Every breath that I take, every moment I'm awake
Lord, have Your way in me

Prayer

"Father God, we thank You for the privilege of being able to serve You. Please forgive us for the times when we have served You half-heartedly. Please fire us up with zeal to serve You with all that is within us and to render our service to You not as work, but as worship as we seek to honour You with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. In Jesus' name. Amen!"