When I was a young adult and I listened to CCM, it was mostly Amy Grant and Keith Green. And Keith Green was the best. He was also, as far as I could tell, real. Christian musicians are almost required to say that they sing in order to minister to other Christians and to the lost. Keith Green said:
The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant,” is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister’s most important goal!
The difference is that he seemed to mean it. He and his wife Melody opened their home to the homeless and to those who were spiritual seekers. After his recordings became popular, he tried out a controversial experiment of giving his albums away in return for whatever one could or would give. (I remember ordering the album So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt and praying over what payment I should send in return.) Keith Green and two of his four small children died in a plane crash on July 28, 1982 (my birthday), not long after I had seen him in concert in Abilene where I was going to school. I believe these lyrics were his prayer, and his music is still influencing Christians and others today.
Make my life a prayer to You,
I want to do what you want me to,
No empty words and no white lies,
No token prayers, no compromise,I want to shine the light you gave,
Through Your Son, you sent to save us,
From ourselves and our despair,
It comforts me to know you’re really there.Oh, I want to thank you now, for being patient with me,
Oh, it’s so hard to see, when my eyes are on me,
I guess I’ll have to trust and just believe what you say,
Oh, you’re coming again, coming to take me away,
I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might live,
And share the hope you gave to me,
The love that set me free,I want to tell the world out there,
You’re not some fable or fairy tail,
That I made up inside my head,
You’re God, The Son, you’ve risen from the dead.
Oh, I want to thank you now,
For being patient with me,
Oh, it’s so hard to see,
When my eyes are on me,
I guess I’ll have to trust,
and just believe what you say,
Oh, you’re coming again,
Coming to take me away.I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might give,
And share the hope you gave to me,
I want to share the love that set me free.
copyright Sparrow Records
For more information about Keith Green and Last Days Ministries.
This is memory lane. I remember seeing Keith Green in concert in Santa Cruz…it must have been closer to 1980..maybe 1979. It certainly encouraged me to quit being a ditzy college student.
Thanks for the post.
Diane
Sherry, Steve and I saw him on our first anniversay, July 3, 1982. I was devastated when he died. “Make My Life a Prayer to You” was sung at our wedding…we changed the second verse to “make our lives a prayer to you…”
I am looking for the picture of the album cover No Compromise where there are people bowing to an image except 1 (i think). pls advise where to locate
tks
I rremember that Melody wanted to come to Egypt and climb Saint Catherine and read ISAIAH 53, did she ever get to do that..I live here and would love to do that for them
I got saved in 1981 on my way to prison the third time. God led me to wittness on the streets and where ever else I went. Keiths music was always a constant source of revival and encouragement to mean. It seemed that his Spirit and mine were the same, though I never met him I felt it in his music. Still goin and still being encourged by Keith. Ken