HAVE YOU ANY ROOM FOR JESUS?

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

Have you any room for Jesus,
He who bore your load of sin?
As He knocks and asks admission,
Sinner, will you let Him in?

CHORUS:
Room for Jesus, King of Glory!
Hasten now, His Word obey!
Swing your heart’s door widely open;
Bid Him enter while you may.

Room for pleasure, room for business,
But for Christ, the crucified,
Not a place that He can enter
In the heart for which He died.

Have you any time for Jesus,
As in grace He calls again?
Oh, today is time accepted –
Tomorrow you may call in vain.

Room and time now give to Jesus –
Soon will pass God’s day of grace;
Soon your heart be cold and silent,
And your Saviour’s pleading cease.

Such old-fashioned words in a very old hymn, yet how meaningful still today Click To Tweet

Such old-fashioned words in a very old hymn, yet how meaningful still today, as many of us try to cram so much into our schedules and our lives! Although the song is directed to those who have not yet invited Jesus into their hearts, we can all stop and consider its implications for us, especially in the second verse. We can become so overloaded with tasks – even ones we do for Jesus, that we actually reserve little time to just be with Him. We can also fill our hearts with much that is good, yet not allow Him to have first place.

Daniel Whittle lived from 1840 to 1901, in times that would probably seem simple and unharried to us in the 21st century. Yet he knew there were people who had little or no time for the Saviour, and he wanted to urgently encourage them to make room for Jesus in their hearts and lives.

Whittle worked as a bank cashier and became a soldier in the American Civil War. He gave his heart to the Lord while a military prisoner, when he read a New Testament given to him by his mother. After the war he returned to civilian life and became treasurer of the Elgin Watch Company. He must have spoken out boldly for the Lord, because eventually he was noticed by Dwight Moody, who encouraged him to become an evangelist. Daniel Whittle did just that, and led revival meetings as well as writing numerous Gospel songs, some under the pseudonym of El Nathan.

WORDS: DANIEL WHITTLE; MUSIC: C.C. WILLIAMS
S.A. SONG BOOK, 1987 EDITION, #241; 2015 EDITION, #420
REFERENCE: USAWEST.ORG