Give up the world, Christ to obtain

In 1947, while I was taking a walk in a park in Shanghai, I composed a hymn entitled "Give Up the World, Christ to Obtain" (Hymns, #1025). I appreciate stanza 3 the most, which says, (Though very great is all the world, / And very small is your heart, / Yet the great world with all its wealth / Never can fill your small heart." This hymn touches people's feelings very much. People are touched and stirred up as soon as they sing it; it is like they were injected with a stimulant.

I wrote this hymn in 1947. During that year I conducted a conference in Shanghai, and after that conference I spent a day resting in a scenic area. As I was strolling there, I was humming some random melodies to myself. While I was thus musing, verse three of the hymn came to me:

Though very great is all the world,
And very small is your heart,
Yet the great world with all its wealth,
Never can fill your small heart.

Now I would ask all the brothers and sisters over sixty years old to stand up and sing this verse. Your singing is too proper. There is no need to be so proper. You have to sing like I do. I break all the rules of singing, yet I stir up others' spirits. All of you older sisters should go to sing in your home meetings. You have to fire up everyone there. Do not think that only the young people can catch fire. If all the older ones sit still in the meeting, how can we have a good home meeting? But if the older ones would sing, their singing would surely cause the meeting to come alive. On this point I would ask you older ones to learn of me. Do not sing too properly. When you break the rules, sometimes you sing even better. Today I may be the oldest one among all of you. I do not sing well, but I sing with life. Please do not act like an old man or woman. You must be bold to sing.

...Hymns are the easiest way to stir up our spirit because they are the expressions of the poets' sentiments. Take, for example, "Give up the world, Christ to obtain" (Hymns, #1025). In the summer of 1948 I was in Shanghai, busy and tired from the work. One day some co-workers and I arranged to go to a park for a rest. It was then that this hymn was written. Whenever we sing this hymn in the meetings, our tiredness easily goes away and our spirits are refreshed. Sometimes you may be the first to come to the meeting. Even though you are only one person, you can start a hymn, playing and singing to yourself. As the brothers and sisters arrive one by one, they can join you in the singing. In this way, the meetings spontaneously will be enlivened.