You Can Take it With You When You Go
"You can't take it with you when you go," is very true if you are referring to worldly possessions which are completely useless when we leave this earth behind. It seems this past week the words "go" and "take" have been on my mind a lot. Wednesday I overheard a conversation once again in McDonald's. Whoever said, "God can use anybody anywhere" knew what they were talking about. The thing is many times the people God uses have no idea they are being used by Him. Sometimes it is good to tell them how God has used them in your life.
The young guy God used to inspire me last week was sharing his faith with an older man he was eating with. He spoke of how God had changed him, how his old friends noticed, how he no longer hung with the crowd he once hung with. The older man agreed there had been a change and that God is good to us all. The younger guy went on to discuss his heart, what he knew God had for him to do. He had been given the opportunity to teach a young kids' class on Wednesday night at his church. The children were underprivileged kids, brought in from the community. It seems funding wasn't available to pick them up and the church had discontinued the young man's class. He was heartbroken. He told the man, "I just pray the church gets the funds together next year to send somebody to go and pick them up."
Well, at that point I knew God had intended for me to hear this conversation and felt I should say something.
As I was about to leave I told the young man, I couldn't help overhearing. I told him if teaching the kids was his heart, that God would make a way. I told him also that perhaps God wanted him to go to where the children are. All things are possible with God.
He smiled, thanked me, and said he knew God would work it out.
I thought of the outreach we have done in the past with underprivileged kids, how God sent our church to them. I thought of how I longed to go back. I knew instead of waiting for the perfect time for funding and workers for the church to "send" me, I was supposed to be going. I also thought of other places, seemingly impossible to get to, that I know God has called me to. What am I waiting for? I thought of so many people like me and the young man at McDonald's in so many different places longing to go to show the love of Christ. Many sit and wait for someone, a church, an organization, someone to send them to do the work they feel Christ has called them to do.
As I said that, I knew that was it. Who has called us? The church or Jesus? In John Jesus said...
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John 20:21
He has called us; He has sent us and we are to go.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
Jesus also told us not to worry about taking "things" with us.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. Matthew 10: 7-10
I continued to think of going and taking all week. What is it that we do need to take with us when we go? An old hymn came to mind. Take the name of Jesus with you.... child of sorrow and of woe; It will joy and comfort give you... Take it now where 'er you go.
The hymn was written in the 1800s by a woman who gets this and she was bedridden. She didn't do a lot of going but knew what she needed to take with her every single day. Jesus was in her heart, always with her.
I have her story below and the words to the song as well. As you read the words, think of where God has sent you. Think of where you can go for Him. If you have feet that move, hands that reach, and a heart that loves there is so much work to be done. Remember there are so many things we will not be able to take with us when we leave this earth, but there is one important thing we must have with us when we go now and then if we want to go to Heaven... Jesus Christ. With Him all things are possible.
jbp
Take the Name of Jesus With You
Take the name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give you Take it, then, where'er you go. 2. Take the name of Jesus ever, As a shield from ev'ry snare; If temptations round you gather, Breathe that holy Name in prayer. 3. O the precious name of Jesus! How it thrills our souls with joy, When His loving arms receive us And His songs our tongues employ! 4. At the name of Jesus bowing, Falling prostrate at His feet, King of kings in heav'n we'll crown Him, When our journey is complete. Chorus: Precious name, O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heav'n; Precious name, O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heav'n.
Lydia Baxter, 1809–1874
The writer of this hymn text knew well the meaning of that special name “Jesus”. Although Lydia Baxter was a bed-ridden invalid much of her life, she remained continually cheerful and patient. “I have a very special armor,” she would tell her friends. “I have the name of Jesus. When the tempter tries to make me blue or despondent, I mention the name of Jesus, and he can’t get through to me anymore.”
“Take the Name of Jesus With You” was written by Mrs. Baxter on her sickbed just four years before her death in 1874. Throughout her lifetime she was known as an avid student of the Bible who loved to discuss the significance of scriptural names with her friends. She would inform them that Samuel means “asked of God,” Hannah—“grace,” Sarah—“princess,” and Naomi—“pleasantness.” But the name that meant everything to Lydia Baxter was the name “Jesus.”
This hymn was used often during the Moody-Sankey evangelistic campaigns in the latter part of the 19th century.