**** A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC AND FAITH OF THOMAS CHISHOLM

(A Tribute to the music and faith of Thomas Chisholm)

Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was a poor, simple man.

He was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1866 and educated in a little, one-room country schoolhouse where, at the age of 16, he became the teacher.

At the age of 36 years, with no formal college education or seminary training, he was ordained as a Methodist pastor but had to resign after only one year because of his fragile health.

There were many, extended periods of time when he was confined to his bed but, whenever he was able, he pushed himself to work extra long hours at various odd jobs just to make ends meet.

About his meager and difficult life, Thomas Chisholm said, “God has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.”

Thomas loved to write and during his lifetime, he wrote hundreds of poems and songs. One of them was inspired by Lamentations 3:22-23, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning:  GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS.”

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul, the apostle, said, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2).

That was the inspiration for Thomas Chisholm’s hymn, O TO BE LIKE THEE. He also wrote another hymn with a similar theme; I WANT TO BE LIKE JESUS.

The apostle, Paul, wrote to the church at Corinth, that they (and we) should desire “...that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10).

And to the church in Galatia, he said, “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (2:20)

He encouraged the Colossian church to “...walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:10)

Thomas Chisholm must have had those verses, and probably many others, in mind when he wrote LIVING FOR JESUS, which is a call to live, willingly and joyfully, in submission and obedience to the Lord.

****JESUS CALLS US

Miss Cecil Humphreys was just 21 years old when she published her first book entitled "Verses for Holy Seasons." It was a children’s book that contained a hymn or poem for each Sunday of the year.

In her Sunday School classes, her students were often confused about the meaning of some of the statements in the Apostle’s Creed. So, she began to write easy-to-memorize verses in the children’s terminology. Many of those verses were developed into hymns, some of which are familiar to us.

For example, the first phrase of the Apostle’s Creed is, "I believe in God the Father Almighty." The song she wrote to explain that phrase was, All Things Bright and Beautiful. For "Born of the Virgin Mary" she wrote, Once in Royal David's City. And to explain the meaning of the death of Jesus who was crucified and buried, she wrote, There is a Green Hill far Away.

In 1848, she married the Rev. Mr. William Alexander and in that same year, she published her second book titled, "Hymns for Little Children," which included the songs that were inspired by the Creed. 

In total, she wrote over four hundred hymns and poems but, of all her works, JESUS CALLS US is the most often sung and best-loved.  

It has been said that prayer is like having a direct telephone line to God.  We can call Him anytime.  But have you ever thought about the fact that the phone line goes in two directions? Do you realize that JESUS CALLS US? 

In our prayers, we tend to call out to God as if we think He should serve us or that He should do what we ask of Him. We expect Him to fix our messed-up situations, patch up our bad relationships, bail us out of financial difficulties, or heal our diseases. And sometimes maybe that is His will, but usually, that’s not the case. Our place is not to make demands or impose our wills on Him but rather to yield to His will for us.

JESUS CALLS US to serve Him regardless of our circumstances.  Paul’s words, in his letter to the Church at Philippi, are helpful.  “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:11-13)

I think our best example, though, is Christ, Himself, when He was tempted in the wilderness. He was weak, hungry, lonely, and despised. Satan tempted Him with great promises of wealth, political power, and physical comfort.

Yet Jesus didn’t grasp for those things. He loved and trusted His Father more than His own life. And just as He had instructed His disciples when He taught them to pray, “Thy will be done,” He obediently did what He was sent to do. It was His Father’s will that He should suffer and die for our sins.

And that’s the way God works in our lives too; He doesn’t normally just make us comfortable or give us lots of stuff. He molds us in the presses and tests us in the fires because He wants to make us Holy.

The hymn starts with a note of encouragement; when our lives are full of hardship and turmoil, JESUS CALLS US, not to remove our difficulties but to follow Him in and through them.

Our God is a jealous god and He wants first place. If people or hobbies or wealth or other vain idols dominate or control our lives, JESUS CALLS US to “dump the junk” and love Him more.

Whether we are happy or sad, whether life is easy or tough, whatever conditions or circumstances we are in, JESUS CALLS US to love Him more than anyone or anything else.

The final verse begins with a subtle reminder; the very fact that JESUS CALLS US is evidence of His love and mercy toward us. The hymn concludes with a prayer, that, by His Spirit, we may hear Him, and that He would soften our hearts to serve Him and love Him best of all.