Isn’t it exciting when you hear a tune from your past? I’ll hear a song from my childhood or teen years and I’m transported back to that time. I remember people, events, places and memories that revolve around certain songs.

I specifically remember going to my very first dance. I was young…in 6^th grade. Now I had danced in our living room with some of my best friends, but never in public. So I was a little nervous. But as soon as young Michael Jackson started singing “Rockin’ Robin,” I was ready to start dancing! Okay, I think I just dated myself. To this day, I can see myself in that gym when I hear this song.

Music does that. We associate periods of our life with specific music. We associate people with music. We find comfort, strength and renewal through music. How blessed we are that God placed music in our hearts.

I’m sure each of us can recall church songs as well. Hymns, spiritual songs, camp songs. These too take us to a different time and place.

There has been a resurgence of older hymns in our churches today. Artists have been able to take these beautiful pieces of music and embellish them to offer a modern version. Many have gone on to become classics that will stand the test of time.

I’ve chosen such a song today. “Jesus Paid it All” was written in 1865, but the message is as old as the mid 50’s AD when Paul penned these words. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – NIV)

The price has been paid. We have been ransomed. So what are we going to do with this freedom in Christ? Honor God. Yes, we need to honor God with our bodies, but also with our minds and our strength and our hearts and our souls. That includes our thoughts, our language and our actions. With everything in us, we are to honor God, because Jesus paid the price. He paid it once and for all.

So today, here’s the song “Jesus Paid it All” for you to read through and listen to. Once you have this song in your heart, let’s praise the One who paid the debt. Praise the One who paid your debt.

“Jesus Paid it All (O Praise the One)[i]

I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.
 

Chorus:

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
 

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
and melt the heart of stone.
(Chorus)

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
Jesus died my soul to save,
my lips shall still repeat

(Chorus)
 

Bridge:
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

(Chorus)

Click here to hear Kristian Stanfill’s version of this song.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna

[i] “Jesus Paid it All (O Praise the One),” words and music by Elvina M. Hall, John T. Grape and Alex Nifong, worshiptogether.com songs, sixsteps Music, 2006.