do not i love Thee?

i was reminded today of this song. i was thinking about God and how He needs to be the object of my affections. how He needs to be the love of my life. how if i don't first love Him then nothing else is worth my attention or interest. i was preparing for a study tomorrow with the high school guys, and one of the questions was, "What will it take in your life to make your devotional time with God the number one priority of each day? Do you need to cut back or eliminate some competing activity?" What in my life is competing with God for my attention? for my affections? for my love? for my passions? whatever i find that does this, i need to pluck out or cut off ( Matthew 5:29-30).

Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?
Behold my heart and see
And turn each cursed idol out
That dares to rival Thee

Do not I love Thee from my soul?
Then let me nothing love
Dead be my heart to every joy
When Jesus cannot move

Within the darkness of this heart
Other gods would vie for my affections
But Thou art exalted far above all gods
Let nothing keep me from Thy love

Thou know'st I love Thee, dearest Lord
But, oh, I long to soar
Far from the sphere of mortal joys
And learn to love Thee more

This song was adapted by a hymn written by Phil­ip Dod­dridge, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Var­i­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­t­ures, by Job Or­ton (J. Ed­dowes and J. Cot­ton, 1755) The original hymn and lyrics can bee seen here. (fair warning: watch out! there's a bad midi file that will play on that page. I'm not familiar with that melody, the way the above words are sung, as I remember, is a lot better than the tune heard on that page, but the words there are good!)