Take Time To Be Holy
William Dunn Longstaff wrote a beautiful song about the pursuit of holiness! A wealthy man who supported some well-known evangelists of his day, Longstaff's legacy lives on through this deep song of devotion.
Welcome to another Friday Classic Hymn! I've got a bunch of books that I use to research these hymns, but this one doesn't happen to be in any of those books. Yet it's still a very popular hymn. I don't know it myself because in the Methodist Church I grew up in we never sang it - we sang more contemporary stuff. But quite a few people that I've spoken to have said, "Oh yes, this is a standard!" Take Time To Be Holy is a real old classic hymn. I was confused about why it isn't in a lot of these hymn books.
Let me ask you: do you know the song? Is it a part of your life? Do you have some stories to tell about singing it at particular churches? As always, please share your comments and your thoughts about the song below. If you haven't already joined the channel by subscribing, I hope that you'll do that if you enjoy godly music, old hymns or new songs. I'm sure this channel will be a blessing to you.
By the way, if you haven't checked out my second channel, which is my audio daily devotions, I'd love for you to have a look at those. I really pray that those will start spreading and blessing people as they do here in South Africa.
I found some information on the song. Let me share the story behind it with you.
The Story Behind "Take Time To Be Holy"
Take Time To Be Holy was written by William Dunn Longstaff, who was a layman in Britain in the 1800s. Longstaff's father was a wealthy ship owner, so he was quite well off himself. He was the treasurer of the church that he was part of in Sunderland - Bethesda Free Chapel was the name of the church. This was a church that a minister named Arthur Rees had started, having left the Anglican ministry after having a disagreement with some of the leadership there in the 1840s.
Longstaff was a friend of many of the big evangelists of the day. In particular, he was very friendly with William Booth, so a lot of his songs were printed or published in Salvation Army materials. I know this song in particular is a Salvation Army favourite.
In the 1870s, when D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, and Ira Sankey, his musician, came to Britain to do some evangelistic work, their financial sponsor died. They were left without much help to do the work they were doing, but Longstaff jumped in and started to sponsor these men for the work they were doing.
It was in the 1880s that Longstaff heard a sermon or some words by a missionary to China. He was in England doing some talks, and in this talk that he was doing in a place called Keswick, he shared around a verse that says, "Be holy, for I am holy" - 1 Peter 1:16. Longstaff loved this, so he wrote this beautiful hymn or poem, Take Time To Be Holy. It was published in a Keswick hymnal of the time.
Longstaff showed this to Ira Sankey, who was Moody's musician and a great musician himself. He in turn showed it to a friend of his called George Stebbins, another musician. Stebbins forgot all about this until he also heard some words about holiness sometime later. This made him think about the song that he had heard, or this hymn that he had seen written down. Stebbins decided to write his own tune for this song. As he pulled it out, he wrote a tune called "Holiness," which is the one we sing today. The song was published in the 1880s, and since then it's become a devotional favourite because of these words which talk a lot about your time with God being so precious and leading you into a life of holiness.
Longstaff died in Sunderland and never really did much more that is remembered, except for this hymn, Take Time To Be Holy. Let me take you through the words that he wrote.
What Do the Lyrics of "Take Time To Be Holy" Mean?
Verse 1
Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
He's saying take time to grow in holiness. How? By speaking often with God - in other words, by praying. Time in prayer will grow your holiness.
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word - pray and feed on His Word, spend time with Him, and always know that you are with Him. Always be abiding in His presence. That is a great formula if you want to be holy as God is holy, which is what that verse in 1 Peter 1 spoke of, the one that inspired the song. Be deep in prayer, be deep in His Word, and wherever you are, abide in Him. Be close to Him.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak.
I like this. This is a very Wesleyan way of thinking. Wesley believed that holiness was not just a personal thing but a social thing - that you couldn't really say you were holy if you weren't doing good in the world. For him, he talked about how there's no such thing as "holy solitariness" - that's according to Wesley - that's no more consistent than "holy adultery."
The songwriter here, Longstaff, is saying take time to be holy by making friends of God's children, by being part of a godly community, by helping those who are weak, by reaching out in the name of Jesus to tend to those in need. That is holiness. That is the type of life and love that God wants from you.
Let's remember that holiness is simply what Jesus summed up the law and the prophets as - it's loving God and loving people. If you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and if you love His people, that is holiness. That is the work and the lifestyle that you're called to. Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak, so that your holiness is not just an inward thing.
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek - whatever you're doing, you're seeking His blessing. That'll keep you close to Him, it'll keep you loving others, and you'll be living a holy life. Beautiful.
Verse 2
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
While the world is rushing about doing its thing, take that time to be in the secret place with Jesus. Your holiness will grow, your sense of love for God and love for people will grow in that place.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
If you're looking to Jesus and if you're spending much time in the secret place alone with Him, you'll start to become like Him. Your friends will see in your conduct, outside of that secret place, His likeness. They'll see something of Him in you if you're spending that time being alone with Him and growing in your relationship with Him.
Very true. Just the other day, in fact, I did Sweet Hour of Prayer - do you remember I did a Friday Classic on that? - which also speaks much about that sweet time alone with Jesus that transforms you into His likeness. This song is saying the same thing, which is why I think some people call it a devotional classic. It speaks much of this importance of time in devotion, in quiet time with God.
Verse 3
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy guide,
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
Take the time to be guided by Him. Don't run ahead of God and just do your own thing, but be patient and walk closely with Him so that you're not just doing your own thing. Whatever is going on, don't just do what you want to do, but whatever comes your way, just take the time to think of how He wants you to do it. You'll be walking in holiness.
In joy or in sorrow still follow thy Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Whether you're in a good space or a bad space, still focus on being holy by living that godly life. If you're in a good place, well, still follow God - don't now leave Him aside. If you're in a sorrowful place, well, still hold on to Him. Don't stop trusting in your Lord, but keep holding on to His Word and following Him in good and bad times. You will be living a holy life.
Verse 4
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive be 'neath His control.
If you're taking the time to be with God and spend time in the quiet, it brings a calm, a peace to your soul that nothing else does, so that every thought and every motive of your day is held in His control. You've got to take that time to be with Him for this to happen.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
Being led by His Spirit to be filled with His love, with fountains of love flowing in your spirit, you'll be fitted for service above. You'll eventually be so holy and so like Him that you will be ready not only to serve the world but to be in God's presence and serve Him in that place one day.
Conclusion
What a beautiful song! Take the time to be holy. Maybe you've needed this reminder to take the time to sit with God in the quiet place and to live your life for Him as well.
Some people apparently don't like this hymn because they say it doesn't adequately describe the holiness that is going out and doing acts of goodness in the name of God - that is part of your call to holiness. He does mention it a little bit in the beginning, but that's about it. The rest seems to be very inward-focused, and maybe that's a legitimate criticism of the song.
Either way, this reminds me to just be much with God in the quiet place so that when I go out into the world, I've got that peace in my spirit and those fountains of love in my spirit that will transform the way that I live. Beautiful, beautiful hymn to remind you of that.
Maybe today you've needed these words. Did any words really speak to you? Did some of the lines jump out at you, or did something just get to you at the right moment? Maybe there was a line that you thought, "I just needed that today." Please share that in the comments below - I'd love to hear how this has impacted you.
If you have any hymns that you'd like me to do, by the way, put them in the comments as well. I'm always looking out for other ones to do.
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I hope that you will be inspired to take the time to spend with God and to live in His name, so that you are not only holy in the solitary place and growing in Christlikeness in your quiet place, but being led to go out and share a holy life by loving people and cherishing God in all that you do.
References
Longstaff, W. 2014. History of Hymns: Take Time to Be Holy
McKay, G. 2003. A Hymn a Day. Tennessee; Franklin Publishing
