Homily for 11/9/25: Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart

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Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart
Lutheran Service Book hymn 708

 

Today we’re going to spend a few minutes with the hymn Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart. It was written by Martin Schalling, a 16th century Lutheran pastor who was repeatedly kicked out of the churches and cities he was called to serve for daring to be faithful to the Word of God. In this context, as we consider the words of the text, it is even more profound that he was able to make such a bold confession in the face of trial and suffering.

In stanza 1 we confess, “Lord, Thee I love with all my heart.” As we continue on, we acknowledge just how vital it is for us to be in our Lord’s presence. “Earth has no pleasure I would share; Yea, heav’n itself were void and bare if Thou, Lord, wert not near me.” Can you imagine needing the Lord so much that even your most valued possession would be worthless in comparison? But Schalling makes that claim without hesitating, for “Thou art the portion I have sought; Thy precious blood my soul has bought.” So even when it means that he loses his position, his reputation, and even his home, he cries out in faith, and we cry out with him, “Forsake me not! I trust Thy Word.”

The second stanza confesses how good God has been to His people, and we ask Him to train us to confess this truth to all those around us. And then we ask God to keep us faithful in the face of our crosses, even to death: “Let no false doctrine me beguile; let Satan not my soul defile. Give strength and patience unto me to bear my cross and follow Thee.” And the stanza concludes with the cry, “In death Thy comfort still afford,” echoing our Lord’s urging to “be faithful unto death.”

The final stanza is often sung or spoken at the deathbed of a fiathful Christian or at the funeral or committal of the faithful departed. I can’t read the words for you without crying, but these words are a confession and prayer and that both the dying and those who are for a time left behind would be taken to their blessed rest in the arms of their Lord. And as we pointed out last week as we celebrated the Feast of All Saints, this hymn also reminds us that death is not the end. “And then from death awaken me, that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, Thy glorious face, my Savior and my fount of grace.” We will be awakened from the sleep of death to live in the visible presence of our dear Lord, to praise Him eternally.

Thanks be to God for such a rich hymn to feed and edify our minds and souls. God grant that these words and others like them would be in our hearts and on our lips as we daily carry our crosses.