Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Power of a Song

Singing is one of the ways that we worship God, but it is even more than that. The book of Ephesians tells us that singing is one of the ways to be Spirit filled, or at least evidence that we are.

 
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord   Ephesians 5: 18-19

But the practice of singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is even more than evidence of being Spirit filled. It is also a teaching tool. Colossians 3 tells us this:

 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  Colossians. 3:16

How often do we stop to consider that? Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are a way of letting Christ’s word dwell in us. But when we sing to the Lord, we are also teaching each other and admonishing one another (admonishing: to advise, warn, to caution). That should make us consider what we are singing to be sure that the right things are being taught.

to be continued...

1 comment:

Brad said...

Most of the Hebrew Bible was written with a meter. This is how the scribes could tell if something had been altered (this was before Zerox; in fact it was before 3M thermofax copiers). The meter also helped to memorize the Bible.

I've often wondered how much of an opportunity we're missing as I watch people singing along with the latest pop songs. Why not put the Bible to song? Not just the Psalms, which were (partially) a hymn book, but the whole Bible to use as a memory aid. Imagine CCR doing Genesis; Bob Dylan doing Acts: ABBA doing Leviticus...