Whether it’s Oliver Twist asking for more gruel in the orphanage, or a young boy asking about ‘mo’ -lasses for his hotcakes; we all are looking for more of something. As we conclude this three part study asking if ‘we want more’, we will examine the last verse of Phillip Bliss’ old hymn, “More Holiness Give Me.”
As you may recall, this hymn contains the word more a surprising twenty-four (24) times in only three short verses. Let’s conclude our study as we dive into verse three to examine Phillip Bliss’ inspiration of wanting more.
In verse three we sing about wanting (needing); more purity, more strength, more freedom and more longing. A desire to be more fit, more useful, more blessed & holy and more like the Savior. In the third part of this three part study we’ll consider one by one the ‘mores’ we’re seeking:
1) More purity give me…Purity is an interesting word. To be pure, by definition, is to be ‘unmixed.’ When we strive to have more purity, we are asking (praying) for God to keep us clean. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”, we’re all dirty. Its our decision is to seek salvation or remain in sin. God’s children belong to Him, therefore we shouldn’t be mixed with the world. Living in a sinful world, we need more purity.
2) More strength to o’er come (overcome)…When faced with an obstacle we’ll either walk away from it, or work to ‘over-come it.’ But what does that mean? Bliss states it clearly, if we are to over come our struggles (obstacles), we need strength. Strength that we currently do not have. We might consider ourselves strong and capable to ‘overcome’, but that’s exactly where the devil wants us. Comfortable and over confident. To stand for Christ we need His strength if we are to ever overcome. 
3) More freedom from earth-stains…Remember the need for purity? When we’re ‘mixed up’ in the world we become stained, soiled, dirty. To be free from stains we need a cleansing agent. Tide* might get the stain out of our clothes, but only Christ can remove ‘earth-stains’. Do you want more freedom?
4) More longings for home. Perhaps we have to be away from home for a while to realize how much we long for home. But then again you have to ask yourself…where is home? You’ve heard the saying, “Home is where is your heart is.” OK, then where is your heart? If our heart belongs to God, then heaven is our home. Are you longing to go home or have you given your heart to someone else?
5) More fit for His kingdom. Take a square peg and try to ‘fit’ it into a round hole; you know it doesn’t belong there. It doesn’t fit. To make that square peg do it’s job, you’ll need to shave off the corners. Round the peg off and smooth it to the same size as the hole. Then it will fit and be ready to use…you could say it will be ‘more fit’ than it was previously.
6) More useful…The idea of being useful and fit go hand in hand. Once the corners of the peg are carved off, smoothed down and shaped to fill the hole, it will be useful. But how can it be ‘more’ useful? We all have a responsibility in some form or fashion. Consider how well do you do your job? We work for a reason, to get the job done. We want to be useful in our daily task. But you need to ask yourself; “In God’s kingdom, am I being as ‘useful’ as I could be?”
7) More blessed and holy…8) More, Savior, like Thee. These last two are joined together for a reason. As we strive to be more like Christ in our life, we will be focused on living a holy life. In turn, we’ll be more blessed and ultimately we’ll be more like our Savior. Make no mistake, this song is a prayer. And in our prayers we ask God to give us good health, peace of mind, and patience. But be honest, do you want to be more holy and more like Jesus? That’s a prayer we should all be praying
This 140 year old hymn serves as a full, 24-point sermon on seeking more, but not what the world seeks. The world is focused on self, and it wrestles for more status and position. The child of God is focused on heaven and their desires more Christ centered. We have sung about being more godly…now we need to live ‘more, Savior, like Thee!
