To a Quick Change Artist (A Prayer)

O Lord Jesus Christ
Deliver me from my schemes
To outwit what you want.
Forbid my life should go by and all I ever did
Was try to get the biggest piece of cake.
Teach me quickly how, "He who will save his life
Will lose it."
Lest I be embarrassed in that final hour.
Give me something better to do,
Something that is more fun and more important,
Than self-service.
Help me see the folly of my
Racing up the ladder faster than the other fellow
By remembering the One who took up His Cross and went straight to the foot.
O God, this trying forever to get something
Is what gets me;
He gave Himself away.
That gets me right where He wants me.

Keep me Father from twisting your church to my own advantage.
I arrange the hour to suit myself;
I make my gifts tax deductible.
Before you know it I'll have Christianity rigged
Until I have everything to gain
When you had everything to lose.
Take my hands out of my pockets
Until I can stretch them out before me
To heal and bless all I meet.
My time is running out
I need a quick change artist.
If I were the wind, I would obey You instantly.
Why not just as I am.

A prayer from: Before You Call I Will Answer by David A. Redding, p. 47