I Love to Tell the Story (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 661)
1 I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory,
of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story,
because I know it’s true;
it satisfies my longings
as nothing else would do.
Refrain:
I love to tell the story;
’twill be my theme in glory
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.
2 I love to tell the story:
how pleasant to repeat
what seems, each time I tell it,
more wonderfully sweet!
I love to tell the story,
for some have never heard
the message of salvation
from God’s own holy word. [Refrain]
3 I love to tell the story,
for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
I’ll sing the old, old story
that I have loved so long. [Refrain]
Text: Katherine Hankey; Music: William E. Fischer; Public Domain
Devotion
“I love to tell the story…” Really? I might love to sing the hymn, but do I really love to tell the story? The story of unseen things? The story of Jesus, and the mystery of God’s love?
It’s one thing to share the story of faith at a Bible study—to “go around the circle” and talk together of the faith we share. It feels like quite another thing to share that story with those who “have never heard,” or those who have heard and rejected the very thing that I experience as “wonderfully sweet.”
It is a difficult truth that what “satisfies my longing” may not satisfy another. And what others have heard about Jesus may have been presented in such a way that it inflicted pain rather than offering healing.
So what is the story I really love to tell? And how can I get out of the way, so that Jesus’ love may be heard?
Prayer
Jesus, you have claimed me. Shine through me that others may know your love. Amen.