I Pledge Allegiance To the Lamb

I have heard how Christians long ago

 Were brought before a tyrants throne.

 They were told that he would spare their lives,

 If they would renounce the name of Christ.

 But one by one they chose to die,

 For the cause of Christ they would not deny.

 Then the great angelic choir stands

 I can almost hear their voices ring

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.

 With all my strength,

 With all I am,

 I will seek to honor His command.

 I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.

Now the years have come and the years have gone,

 And the cause for Jesus still goes on.

 Now our time has come to count the cost,

 To reject this world and embrace the cross.

 So one by one let us live our lives,

 For the one who died to give us life.

 That on that great and final judgment day,

 Let us boldly stand and proudly say.

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.

 With all my strength,

 With all I am,

 I will seek to honor His command.

 I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.

To the Lamb of God,

 Who bore my pain,

Who took my place,

 Who bore my shame.

I will seek to honor his command.

 I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.

  I have always loved this song. There is something about it that challenges me. It starts by talking about the people that died for their faith. Brave men and women that gave everything for Christ. Do I have the same faith they did? Did they ever struggle to have devotions on a busy day? Did they ever walk into a church service dragging and bleary eyed because they had stayed out to late the night before with friends? Did they ever raise their voice at their two year old? They were human beings just like us. So surely they struggled. But their religion was always at the fore front of their minds. I don't think an hour went by that they didn't whisper a prayer for themselves and their fellow church members. I'm sure they had normal jobs, at least some of them. But I think they lived for the next chance to gather with their fellow believers. And now our midweek services are poorly attended! (Not in Ghana! But we struggled with making it back home.) Do you think they ever said, "Its so cold out tonight and church is in the middle of a field, I think we will just skip it." "Its been a busy week and we were away all day yesterday, let's just stay at home and read our own Bibles." (I'm pretty sure calling in wasn't an option!)
  So when I hear this song and think about those things, and then sing the lines, "With all my strength. With all I am." My hearts desire is to do that. Seek to honor him with all I am.
  But I have a confession to make, even though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. There are days when I don't take every opportunity to reach out because I need to take care of my things. The biggest one for me is inviting people into my home. Not other missionaries, but natives. It feels like a breech of my private space. To let them in my house and see how nice it is and all the things I have, I'm actually embarrassed! Maybe I should get rid of our sofa and we should sit on the floor! I know its unreasonable but I really struggle with it.
  Then there are things like, if I am loving God with all I am, what about the time spent on my phone? I use my phone a lot for communication but it is so easy to cross the line from communicating to wasting time. It doesn't sound like loving God with all I am, if I am wasting time on my phone. What about the books I read, the music I listen to, and just in general, the things I do. In reality, if I am giving my all, everything needs to be for the Lord. In some way, glorify Him.
  I am definitely more aware of these things here. But it doesn't make it any easier. Sometimes you feel so far away from your church and the people that have known you all your life that it would be easy to slide. Easy to walk closer to the culture here. But if I have pledged allegiance to the Lamb, my standards should never change, because His never do. My all should be so focused on Him that it doesn't matter what culture I am in, what is happening around me, my life will look the same.
  " Now our time has come to count the cost." Do I give all my strength, all I am, or do I allow self a piece of my day? There are no half way Christians.