"Oh, To Be Like Thee"

Many of the songs we sing in worship have a personal message. Songs like "Be With Me Lord" and "It Is Well" are songs that we sing to express our own feelings. Some songs like "Bless Be The Tie" and "God Be With You" are songs with messages to to other Christians. Countless songs we sing have messages intended for God.

Recently while selecting songs I came across a standard, "Oh, To Be Like Thee". I can't tell you how many times I've sung this song in my life. On this particular occasion though, without singing I just read the words.

Oh to be like Thee blessed Redeemer.
This is my constant longing and prayer.
Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's threasures,
Jesus Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh to be like Thee full of compassion,
loving, forgiving, tender and kind.
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
seeking the wandering sinner to find.

Oh to be like Thee Lord I am coming
now to receive the annointing divine.
All that I am and have I am bringing
Lord from this moment all shall be Thine.

I wonder what we would say to God if we had the chance to speak to Him. In our prayer life for instance; would we say the words of this song to Him and mean them? What for instance is our "constant longing and prayer"? Is it really to be like Him? How much would we, do we and have we forfeited for the cause of Christ? How much compassion, love and forgiveness do we show?

If we can't answer those questions in the right way, why would we or why do we sing this song? If we can sincerely sing these words to God, we should sing it more robustly than ever. If we can't believe these words or live these words in our lives, I'd say we not only need to not sing this song but we need to examine ourselves and make some serious changes. What do you think?