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| Painting of Jesus by Kerry Jackson, at Arlington Avenue Baptist Church. |
Oh, to be like Thee! Blessed Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer.
Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures, 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 wandring sinner to find.
Oh, to be like Thee! Lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
Oh, to be like Thee! While I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
NOTES ON HYMN
- This is another song in the Worship & Service Hymnal I grew up with that I didn't know until later in life; in this case, Becky - who grew up with this song - introduced it to me.
- If you are not familiar with this song, the final stanza is the chorus. It has the same meter as the verses. My hunch is that the lyricist, Thomas Chisholm, wrote a poem with multiple verses and the musician decided to make one verse the chorus. The same is true of another song Chisholm wrote the lyrics to that you're probably more familiar with: "Great Is Thy Faithfulness."
- In case you're interested in the meter, it's 10,9,10,9. You can interchange tunes between this song, "I Must Tell Jesus," and "Heavenly Sunlight." I also wrote a poem I intended to be a song (nobody ever attempted to set it to music) called Sola Scriptura."
- As I mentioned, Becky grew up with this song while in the Church of Christ. I included the four verses from the Worship & Service Hymnal, but there's a fifth verse in the Church of Christ hymnal.
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