More Love To Thee, O Christ

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Quoting from Elizabeth P. Prentiss, the author of this hymn :

"To love Christ more is the deepest need, the constant cry of my soul... Out in the woods and on my bed and out driving, when I am happy and busy, and when I am sad and idle, the whisper keeps going up for more love, more love, more love!"

A simple piece of hymn but one which makes me reflect, do I long for the same thing as her? Do I pray that I will love Christ more and more each day? Maybe through so many afflictions, difficulties, suffering and pain, we can so easily say that we love Christ, just to get the comfort we need, not because we really are close enough to Him to say that.

This is my prayer too tonight, for myself, for people around me, for people I care about, that we all have the same eager and deep longing to love Christ more and more in any situation that faces us, be it afflictions and pain or even joy and peace. Loved by an everlasting Love is the reason why we desire to love Christ more.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.
Psalm 119:71