I Have Settled the Question

I am drawn to this hymn because of the last line in every verse: I have settled the question forever. As Christians, we have made a decision to follow Christ, and live as He has commanded. Once you make that decision, there is no turning back: you are now dead to the flesh but alive through the spirit.

If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10

As the refrain here says “I will never turn back from the narrow way.” Jesus tells us that there are very few that find the way to life – it is narrow, and the gate is small.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 17:13-14

When we come to Jesus through faith, and make the decision to follow Him, we don’t walk in sinfulness. We reject sin’s pleasures that do not last, and hold fast to the holy truth. Here again, we lay aside our old self, and put on the new self.

But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:20-24

The way is narrow and few find it. It is not easy. Christ is our example, and He was a sinless man: that is impossible to live up to – for those of us (all of us!) who are sinful. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, God will sanctify us and transform us to the image of the Son. We are in a race – and it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. So, brothers and sisters, if you have settled the question, then press on!

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13-14

I Have Settled the Question
Words by Haldor Lillenas

I remember when the Lord spoke to my soul,
I could feel the heavy burden from me roll
When He spoke the gracious words, “Wilt thou be whole?”
Then I settled the question forever.

Refrain
I have settled the question, hallelujah!
I will never turn back from the narrow way.
I am going through with Jesus, hallelujah!
Till I reach the gates of glory some sweet day.

I no longer walk the ways of sinfulness,
But I daily tread the paths of righteousness
Since the day the Lord has come my life to bless
I have settled the question forever.

I will choose the holy joys that always last,
And reject sin’s pleasures that will soon be past,
To the treasures of true worth I’m holding fast,
I have settled the question forever.

Others may deny the Lord and live in sin,
But the race that I have entered I must win,
Through the pearly gates I mean to enter in,
I have settled the question forever.