Scripture Verse

In Him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28

Introduction

portrait
Thomas O. Chisholm (1866–1960)

Words: Tho­mas O. Chis­holm, in Up­lift­ing Songs, by Har­old Low­den & Ru­fus W. Mill­er (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hei­del­berg Press, 1917), num­ber 45.

Music: Low­den C. Har­old Low­den, 1915 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a bet­ter pho­to of Low­den,

portrait
C. Harold Lowden
1883–1963

Origin of the Song

In 1915 I wrote a light and sum­mery type of gos­pel song en­ti­tled The Sun­shine Song for child­ren’s ser­vic­es.

It be­came quite po­pu­lar, and ma­ny pas­tors wrote to me that the mu­sic should be saved, and more ge­ne­ral words wed­ded to it.

I came across a co­py of it in my files in 1917 and played it ov­er. The rhy­thm and tem­po sug­gest­ed the words Liv­ing for Je­sus.…I de­cid­ed to ask T. O. Chis­holm to write the words.

I mailed him a co­py of the mu­sic and sug­gest­ed the ti­tle and the type of re­frain which I thought it de­served.

In a day or so, Mr. Chis­holm re­turned it to me, say­ing he didn’t have the slight­est idea as to the me­thod used in writ­ing words to mu­sic.

I sent the ma­ter­i­al back to him im­me­dia­te­ly, tell­ing him I be­lieved God had led me to se­lect him, and sug­gest­ing that he per­mit God to write the po­em.

Within a cou­ple of weeks he had com­plet­ed the writ­ing of the words.

Harold Lowden

Lyrics

Living for Je­sus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding al­le­giance, glad heart­ed and free,
This is the path­way of bless­ing for me.

Refrain

O Je­sus, Lord and Sav­ior,
I give my­self to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atone­ment,
Didst give Thy­self for me.
I own no oth­er mas­ter,
My heart shall be Thy throne.
My life I give, hence­forth to live,
O Christ, for Thee alone.

Living for Je­sus who died in my place,
Bearing on Cal­va­ry my sin and dis­grace;
Such love con­strains me to an­swer His call,
Follow His lead­ing and give Him my all.

Refrain

Living for Je­sus, wher­ev­er I am,
Doing each du­ty in His ho­ly name;
Willing to suf­fer af­flict­ion and loss,
Deeming each tri­al a part of my cross.

Refrain

Living for Je­sus through earth’s lit­tle while,
My dear­est treasure, the light of His smile;
Seeking the lost ones He died to re­deem,
Bringing the wea­ry to find rest in Him.

Refrain