“Join In the Battle for Truth”

I can still hear Mrs. S leading our Sunday school in singing “Give of Your Best to the Master.”  The hymn was written by Baptist minister and history professor, Howard B. Grose  (1851-1939).  Here are the first two verses and the refrain: 

Give of your best to the Master; Give of the strength of your youth; Throw your soul’s fresh, glowing ardor into the battle for truth. Jesus has set the example, Dauntless was he, young and brave; Give him your loyal devotion; Give him the best that you have.

Give of your best to the Master; Give him first place in your heart; Give him first place in your service; Consecrate every part. Give and to you will be given; God, his beloved son gave; Gratefully seeking to serve him, Give him the best that you have.

Refrain:  Give of your best to the Master/Give of the strength of your youth/Clad in salvation’s full armor/Join in the battle for truth.

This hymn helped to shape much of my early understanding of what the Christian faith is all about and even though I can no longer “give of the strength of my youth,” or “throw my soul’s fresh, glowing ardor” into the battle, I can still give “the best that I have" left within me into the the battle for truth.

The battle for truth is just that—a struggle, a conflict, a search—not necessarily something already grasped or known. “Cherish those who seek the truth,” wrote Voltaire, “but beware of those who find it.” Truth isn’t easily come by these days and I don’t suppose it ever has been.  Perhaps that is why Pilate asked Jesus the question:  “What is truth?”  Whatever Truth is, we must join in the battle to find it, for it once was said, “The truth shall set you free (John 8:31).”

“Life is a crusade in the service of God. 

Whether we wished to or not, 

we set out as crusaders to free

—not the Holy Sepulcher—

but that of God buried in matter and in our souls.”  

(Nikos Kazantzakis)