This song was written in response to a sermon I heard at a Messianic Jewish church some time back. The sermon was based on Exodus 21:5, in which a slave loves his master so much that he decides to stay with him rather than go free. He stands up against the lintel of a door and allows the master to pierce his ear with a nail. After the sermon, the rabbi asked, do we have any “nail” songs? We did not, so I decided to go home and write one! Of course, we do not treat this passage as condoning slavery, but rather that the “master” is Jesus Christ, and we want to stay with Him!
Lyrics:
v. 1 Mark me as Your servant forever. Pierce me to the heart that I may be nailed to Your cross, locked in Your love, a blood-marked slave whom You have set free!
Chorus: My Lord and Master, I choose You, Lord, for You have chosen me. Our paths are one now; though bound to You these bonds have made me free.
v 2 My will was never mine till it was Yours. A slave to sin, I could not choose the right. Then You took my hand, and unlocked my chains, and raised me from the dungeon into light!
v 3 I feared You, Lord, that You would ask too much, that I would have to give up all I own. Now all mine is Yours, yet I’ve found the prize: In giving all to You I’ve gained a home!