MEAN WHAT YOU SING

MEAN WHAT YOU SING

"Nothing touches the human heart deeper than music. This is never more
true than when a group of Christians sings heartily unto their Lord.
Many a cold heart on skid row has melted as the strains of some old hymn
lingered steamy streets and sleazy alleys surrounding a gospel rescue
mission.

When congregations sing the praise of the King, even demonic hosts stand
at attention. "The powers of darkness fear when this sweet chant they
hear: May Jesus Christ be praised!"

Such moving melodies hold out warm welcome to strangers, comfort to the
broken, refreshment to the lonely, and affirmation to the discouraged.
Great music from God's people instructs, reproves, blesses and relieves.

Who hasn't nodded in agreement while singing, "Prone to wander, Lord, I
feel it, prone to leave the God I love"? Who hasn't stood taller or felt
more confident after all the stanzas of "And Can It Be" or "Am I a
Soldier of the Cross?" or "A Mighty Fortress is Our God?" And who hasn't
found himself lost in wonder, love, and praise while declaring, "My Hope
is in the Lord'? Or received fresh strength from "It Is Well with My
Soul?"

Charles Wesley, perhaps the most prolific hymnist of all times, realized
the value of corporate singing as he wrote, "Oh for a thousand tongues
to sing my great Redeemer's praise." There is nothing to compare to that
sound. Nothing.

But have you noticed the fly in our melodic ointment? It is not a lack
of beauty or harmony, nor is it insufficient volume or intensity. It is,
plain and simple, the presence of WORDS with an absence of MEANING. We
sing well, but we fail to heed the message hidden behind the bars.

Stop and think. There's a line in "Take My Life and Let it Be" that
always makes me pause as the words stick in my throat: 'Take my silver
and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.' Imagine! Not even a mite! We
all sing that with such ease, yet I have known few who wouldn't withhold
something. Including me.

And how about this one:

Have Thine own way Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou are the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Really? Truly yielded? Genuinely still? Absolutely willing to be molded
after His will?

Think of the songs you will sing today as you gather with God's people
to praise and worship Him. Think of each song or hymn as a promise to
God, a binding statement of your commitment. Picture the results of this
commitment as you sing it with gusto. Then, after the song has ended,
apply it with the same gusto.

God not only loves a cheerful giver, he honors a sincere singer."
Adapted from A FINISHING TOUCH - BECOMING GOD'S MASTERPIECE by Charles
R. Swindoll - Word Publishing

Great quote: We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we
profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But
we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists,
non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with
principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for
contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part
in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners" -- coaching and
criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the
enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much
like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous! Jim Elliot