All My Work is for the Master

I'm not certain if my congregation noticed it or not, but when we came to our closing song this morning, I got all choked up. As we came to the last verse of this song, written by General Albert Orsborn, his words hit home to me like they hadn't before. The melody we used was from an old Civil War lament, The Vacant Chair.

I must love thee, love must rule me,
Springing up and flowing forth
From a childlike heart within me,
Or my work is nothing worth.
Love with passion and with patience,
Love with principle and fire,
Love with heart and mind and utterance,
Serving Christ my one desire.

All my work is for the Master,
He is all my heart's desire;
O that he may count me faithful
In the day that tries by fire!

Love needs to be the main motivation for everything I do in life. It must rule me or else my entire work means nothing. To love with passion I equate with the original meaning of passion:  "suffering." I am constantly reminded that love is not merely an emotion. To love produces loving feelings. It makes you vulnerable and open. It is risky, difficult, but also rewarding when requited.

When we go to the source of love, God, we will never have unrequited love. (Although God experiences this so very often!)

I realized when I was singing this that my love for God needs to permeate everything I do. In that brief instance, I felt once again in the presence of God and was overwhelmed with his love for me.