Milo

June 30

WHY DO I SING ABOUT JESUS?
Words and Music by Albert A. Ketchum, 1894–?
Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing to the glory of His name; offer Him glory and praise! (Psalm 66:1, 2)
Fill me with gladness from above,
Hold me by strength divine;
Lord, let the glow of your great love
Through my whole being shine.
—Unknown
The Christian life was meant to be a joyous experience. One of the most effective ways to demonstrate our inner joy is to carry a song upon our lips throughout our daily activities. It was my father who first taught me this truth. As a painter-decorator, Dad became known to his many customers as the “singing painter.” Singing his favorite hymns while he worked became his natural way of life. At his funeral, many of his customers, both believers and nonbelievers, told me of the impact my father had upon them as they observed his cheerful attitude while he worked.
It is important that we carry a song of the Lord with us. The world needs to see and hear the story of Jesus and His love. And the song that we carry on the inside will be reflected on our countenance. An inner song and a cheerful countenance are always the result of a life that is enjoying an intimate daily fellowship with our Lord and Savior—the One who sets us free!
Albert Ketchum, the author and composer of “Why Do I Sing About Jesus?”, wrote this song while a student at the Moody Bible Institute during the early 1920’s. The song first appeared in Gospel Truth in Song, published in 1922. It provides believers a fine vehicle for a musical testimony about their Lord:
Deep in my heart there’s a gladness—Jesus has saved me from sin! Praise to His name, what a Savior! Cleansing without and within!
Only a glimpse of His goodness; that was sufficient for me; only one look at the Savior, then was my spirit set free.
He is the fairest of fair ones. He is the lily, the rose; rivers of mercy surround Him; grace, love, and pity He shows.
Chorus: Why do I sing about Jesus? Why is He precious to me? He is my Lord and my Savior: Dying, He set me free!

    For Today: Psalm 32:7; 40:3; 66:16; Proverbs 15:13; Philippians 2:5–11; 1 Peter 2:7

Determine to allow the warmth of God’s love to be reflected in all of your activities. Carry this musical testimony with you as you seek to be a witness for Christ even in your working attitudes—

June 29

CHRIST LIVETH IN ME
Daniel W. Whittle, 1840–1901
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ liveth in me. (Galatians 2:20)
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). One can almost hear the apostle Paul exhorting the carnal Christians at Corinth with these strong words. How important it is that believers realize with conviction that their earthly bodies are the residence of the living God! Such an awareness should cause us to have an earnest concern for the proper care of our bodies. It is also the motivation we need for Christ-like living—to allow His perfection to be demonstrated in our mortal flesh.
Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, Oh, to be lost in Thee;
Oh, that it may be no more I, but Christ that lives in me.
—C. H. Forrest
The evidence of true conversion is the growing awareness of Christ within us as the Holy Spirit confirms this fact with our human spirit (Romans 8:16). As we mature in the Christian faith, we appreciate increasingly the biblical truth of the glorious identification and security that are ours: God is in Christ, Christ is in us, and we are in Christ. Nothing can ever defeat or destroy such a divine union.
The author, Daniel W. Whittle, was a most interesting individual. He joined the Illinois Infantry during the Civil War and rose to the rank of major. For the remainder of his life he was known by this title. Following the war he returned to Chicago and became treasurer of the Elgin Watch Company. In 1873, however, he resigned this high position and under D. L. Moody’s influence entered the evangelistic ministry. He was unusually successful as an evangelist as well as the author of a number of favorite gospel hymns, most of which he wrote with the pseudonym “El Nathan.” “Christ Liveth in Me” first appeared in Gospel Hymns #6, which was published in 1891.
Once far from God and dead in sin, no light my heart could see; but in God’s Word the light I found. Now Christ liveth in me.
As lives the flower within the seed, as in the cone the tree; so, praise the God of truth and grace; His Spirit dwelleth in me.
With longing all my heart is filled, that like Him I may be, as on the wond’rous thought I dwell that Christ dwelleth in me.
Refrain: Christ liveth in me. O what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me!

    For Today: John 17:22, 23; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Galatians 2:19–21; Ephesians 3:16, 17; Colossians 1:27

Live with the confidence of an indwelling Christ who promises to help you do all things through His strength (Philippians 4:13). Sing this musical truth—

June 28

THE HAVEN OF REST
Henry L. Gilmour, 1836–1920
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. (Hebrews 6:19)
What stabilizers are to a ship in stormy water, the conscious presence of Christ is to a Christian during the storms and stresses of daily living. Christians have never been promised an exemption from any of life’s storms. The Scriptures teach that “man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). It is our reaction to life’s storms that reveals the level of our spiritual maturity. We can either become bitter and belligerent, or we can use the experience to develop greater spiritual strength as we learn to rely more fully on our Lord.
Not only do we have the indwelling presence of Christ, but we also have the assurance that Jesus Christ is in heaven today interceding for us. Just as an Old Testament priest stood behind the veil in the tabernacle or the temple to represent the Israelites before God, so Jesus pleads our case in the heavenly realm on the basis of His death and resurrection. What security this gives us!
The author of this text, Henry Gilmour, came to the United States from Ireland as a teenager. He practiced dentistry for a number of years and then spent the last 25 years of his life as a gospel musician. He was a gifted soloist and was greatly respected as a choir director. “The Haven of Rest” first appeared in Sunlight Songs, published in 1890.
My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea, so burdened with sin, and distrest, till I heard a sweet voice saying, “Make me your choice!” And I entered the Haven of Rest.
I yielded myself to His tender embrace, and faith taking hold of the Word, my fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul—The “Haven of Rest” is my Lord.
The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole, has been the old story so blest of Jesus, who’ll save whosoever will have a home in the Haven of Rest!
O come to the Savior—He patiently waits to save by His power divine; Come, anchor your soul in the Haven of Rest, and say, “My Beloved is mine.”
Chorus: I’ve anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest; I’ll sail the wide seas no more; the tempest may sweep o’er the wild, stormy deep—In Jesus I’m safe ever more.

    For Today: Exodus 33:22; Psalm 34:19; 61:2; Isaiah 66:12; Philippians 4:7; Hebrews 4:3; 6:13–20

Regardless of your circumstances, determine to rely more fully on the indwelling Christ and the awareness of your heavenly advocate. Carry this musical testimony with you—

June 27

MY SINS ARE BLOTTED OUT, I KNOW!
Words and Music by Merrill Dunlop, 1905–
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25)
Forgiveness—when God buries our sins and does not mark the grave.
—Louis Paul Lehman
Many Christians have suffered great emotional, mental, and even physical disorders throughout life because they could never accept the fact that God has totally forgiven them. How important it is to realize that when God offers us His forgiveness, it is never a partial but always a total forgiveness—the slate is forever clean. In God’s family there are only forgiven children. Then, if we are forgiven by God, we are to accept with gratitude His cleansing provision and, by His help, blot out from our memories all hurting reminders of the past. We should also become a more forgiving person with others, free of the resentments and prejudices that will shackle our spiritual lives. Someone has made this humorous but wise observation: “Christians should keep a cemetery in which to bury the faults and failures of their fellow believers.”
The author and composer of this popular gospel hymn, Merrill Dunlop, gives this account of its origin:
It was written in a very few minutes, although only after much deliberation, while I was crossing the Atlantic in 1927 on a liner, The Leviathan, and meditating upon the verses in Micah 7:18, 19 and upon the great dimensions of the sea—the breadth and depth and what the Bible says about our sins—buried in those depths—removed—blotted out! Then, making it personal, I said: “My sins are blotted out, I know!” The melody came almost simultaneously with the words. I jotted the chorus down aboard the ship, as I walked the deck. Later, in Ireland, I added the words and music to the stanzas. It took hold immediately and quickly spread across America and across the seas.

What a wondrous message in God’s Word! My sins are blotted out, I know! If I trust in His redeeming blood, my sins are blotted out, I know!
Once my heart was black, but now what joy; my sins are blotted out, I know! I have peace that nothing can destroy; my sins are blotted out, I know!
I shall stand some day before my King; my sins are blotted out, I know! With the ransomed host I then shall sing: “My sins are blotted out, I know!”
Chorus: My sins are blotted out, I know! My sins are blotted out, I know! They are buried in the depths of the deepest sea: My sins are blotted out, I know!

    For Today: Psalm 103:1, 3, 11, 12; Isaiah 1:18; 43:25; Micah 7:18, 19

Live in the assurance of God’s complete forgiveness. Then determine to forgive and forget the wrongs that others may have done to you. Let your heart be glad as you rejoice in this musical truth—

June 26

NO ONE EVER CARED FOR ME LIKE JESUS
Words and Music by Charles F. Weigle, 1871–1966
… Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night? (Job 35:10)
It is not difficult to sing when all is going well. But often God gives a special song to one of his hurting children during the night times of their life. Believers find new joys in their nights of sorrow and despair, and they discover a greater closeness with their Lord during times of deep need. The apostle John wrote the book of Revelation while on the barren island of Patmos; John Bunyan completed the classic Pilgrim’s Progress while in the Bedford jail; Beethoven composed his immortal 9th Symphony while totally deaf; and Fanny Crosby once remarked, “If I had not lost my sight, I could never have written all the hymns God gave me.”
Charles Weigle’s song, “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus,” was the product of one of the darkest periods of his life. Weigle spent most of his life as an itinerant evangelist and gospel songwriter. One day after returning home from an evangelistic crusade, he found a note left by his wife of many years. The note said she had had enough of an evangelist’s life. She was leaving him. Weigle later said that he became so despondent during the next several years that there were even times when he contemplated suicide. There was the terrible despair that no one really cared for him anymore. Gradually his spiritual faith was restored, and he once again became active in the Christian ministry. Soon he felt compelled to write a song that would be a summary of his past tragic experience. From a heart that had been broken came these choice words that God gave to Charles Weigle:
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus since I found in Him a friend so strong and true; I would tell you how He chang’d my life completely—He did something that no other friend could do.
All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me; all my heart was full of misery and woe; Jesus placed His strong and loving arms around me, and He led me in the way I ought to go.
Ev’ry day He comes to me with new assurance, more and more I understand His words of love; but I’ll never know just why He came to save me, till some day I see His blessed face above.
Chorus: No one ever cared for me like Jesus; there’s no other friend so kind as He; no one else could take the sin and darkness from me—O how much He cared for me!

    For Today: Psalm 144:3, 4; Jeremiah 31:2, 3; Ephesians 3:18, 19; 1 John 3:1

With God’s help, determine to rise above the problems and hurts that you may be experiencing and turn them into a blessing. Reaffirm your confidence in God’s love and care for you by singing this musical truth as you go—