We Give Thee but Thine Own (ELW 686)
1 We give thee but thine own,
whate’er the gift may be;
all that we have is thine alone,
a trust, O Lord, from thee.
2 May we thy bounties thus
as stewards true receive,
and gladly, as thou blessest us,
to thee our first-fruits give.
3 The captive to release,
to God the lost to bring,
to teach the way of life and peace –
it is a Christ-like thing.
4 And we believe thy word,
though dim our faith may be:
whate’er we do for thine, O Lord,
we do it unto thee.
Devotion
Verse four of this hymn reads, “And we believe thy word, though dim our faith may be, whatever we do for thine, O Lord, we do it unto thee.”
There are times in our lives when our faith is dimmed. It may be hard to even believe. Sometimes we say to others, we will believe for you until you are able to believe again yourself. Theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer tried to focus on God’s word alone in making difficult decisions in the resistance to Hitler during WW II. In his book, No Rusty Swords, he emphasizes following the Word of God over anything else.
Even if our faith dims, we can believe and trust the word of our Lord. The singing of this song together in worship challenges our self-centeredness and focuses us back on God’s word alone. Even the smallest of deeds done by us for others is a deed done unto the Lord Himself.
Prayer
Gracious God, even when our faith dims may we see the light of Christ shining in our darkness. Even when we do the smallest thing for the least, help us to know we’ve done it unto you. Amen.