Almost forty years ago, Keith Green recorded a song called, “Make My Life a Prayer to You”. While we could argue about how well the music has held up over time, the lyrics are timeless. “Make my life a prayer to you / I wanna do what you want me to / No empty words and no white lies / No token prayers no compromise”.
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What if we lived our lives as if they were prayers to Jesus? What if we kept Him the center of our focus in every moment we lived? Shouldn’t we all desire to live with no token prayers and no compromise? After all, this is the life Jesus called us to live.
The second verse of the song says, “I wanna die and let you give / Your life to me so I might live / And share the hope you gave to me / The love that set me free”. Do we really want to die? Dying is so final. If we die to our self, if we die to our stuff, our money, our reputation, and our relationships, there will be no going back. Do you possess the will to actually die to everything in your life? I like to think I do, but then notice I’m still holding on to what should have been buried. Perhaps more accurately I have the nasty habit of digging up today what I buried last night.
In the chorus of the song, Keith sings, “Well I wanna thank you now / For being patient with me / Oh it’s so hard to see / When my eyes are on me “. My eyes are so often on me. I’m focused on my health, my job, my stress, and my dreams. It’s sickening to consider how much time I spend with my eyes on me and not on Him. I’m going to assume you can relate. I can’t understand why God is so patient. I would have given up on me a long time ago. We can’t see what God wants us to do when our eyes on ourselves. We can only do the work He’s given us when our eyes are on Him.
Interestingly, “Make My Life a Prayer to You” was written by Keith’s wife, Melody. It’s a raw and honest plea to live the life God created her to live. We would do well to sing along with her today. As aspiring disciples of Jesus, our every step should be like a prayer to our Lord. Everything we do, think, and see should glorify Christ. When we sing, “make my life a prayer to You”, we’re offering our life fully up to Him. We are surrendering, telling Him we want to die to our selfishness and pride. We confess we’re not perfect, but our desire is to live our lives focused unwaveringly on Him.
Sing it to Him today. Die to yourself. Focus on Him. Ask Jesus to help you make your life a prayer to Him. But don’t let them be just words. For once and for all, surrender everything. Go out and live each moment as a prayer to our Savior and King.