The Songs are Talking to Us
I love to ask people how they came to Christ. Each person’s story is individual and unique, and it’s exciting to hear what actually led people to make their final decision to repent and be baptized. I asked one Spanish-speaking brother this question, and he told me he learned the gospel by hearing several preachers, but it wasn’t any one message that finally motivated him to respond--it was the songs! He said the many invitation songs they sang at his congregation stayed with him, that he would hear them in his head, and they were a constant reminder to him that he needed to obey the gospel--until he knew he couldn’t ignore it any longer!
Songs talk! We would do well to remember this the next time we’re singing an “invitation” song--remember that while most of us may just be dashing it off by memory, there are some present who have never heard the gospel, and the song is speaking directly to them. There may be a brother who has “sins that to man’s eyes are hidden” and needs to “tell it to Jesus”. Sometimes I like to look around me as I sing these songs, and really encourage those who look like they need it! One thing is for sure, we need to sing in earnest, because the message in these songs is a matter of life and death!
The songs are not just calling the sinner, but they speak to us and to our Christian lives as well. When I was a young boy my mother would often sit and sing with me at the church building in the afternoon after services. I will always remember when she stopped me suddenly as we sang “Faith of Our Fathers”. “Do you see what you are about to sing?” she said. “Don’t sing that unless you really mean it.” And then I saw them there, the words I had heard many times before--”How sweet would be their children’s fate, If we like them could die for Thee.” Are we ready to die for Him? Lord, give us the courage to sing this song and mean it!
And what about this song that everyone knows, that has been speaking so much to me in the past few years. Look at the words to this song--”I want to be a worker for the Lord”. Sometimes we have trouble just getting to sixth word of the song! Worker!? Are you a worker? Don’t sing this song unless you mean it! One of the biggest reasons congregations of the church seem to lack that “zest”--we get this word from the Greek word that means boiling hot, as in Revelation 3:15 where the church was neither cold nor hot--is because often a large percentage of the members choose not to be workers!
“I want to love and trust His holy Word”--the Lord’s church needs people who trust in God’s Word, who proclaim it in and out of season, who are not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation! But if you don’t read it--or if you prefer your own opinions and ideas--you’re not letting loose the real power of God! That only comes from reading, meditating, using, and proclaiming His inspired Word!
“I want to sing and pray, and be busy every day”--EVERY DAY. How many times have we sung that line? This song is not just talking, it’s screaming out to us! Sure, they say the Christian life is not a bed of roses. But it is a joyful life, when we are busy working for the Lord EVERY DAY. This one speaks to me too! How many times have we let a day go by and done nothing for our Lord? I can say without a doubt, my life is full of joy when I am working for Him EVERY DAY. Do you know this joy? So many people wonder what the problem is with their spiritual life, perhaps they need to listen to what this song is saying! Is this song is talking to you?
Finally, it’s good to give a reminder--songs are talking to you all the time. Which songs talk to you the most? Which songs do you bring into your home? We have all found ourselves tapping our toes, humming a song we’ve heard sometime before. Several times I’ve been angry with myself, when I found myself humming a tune I heard blasting from a stereo next door--a song that a Christian shouldn’t be singing!
We’re constantly saturated with music--what kind of music is sticking in your head? Here in Los Angeles where I live, the cars come “bumping” by with loud stereos all the time, and you learn some songs without even wanting to! But what songs do you bring into your house? What is your family listening to? What is that song that keeps popping up in your head, in your mouth? And what’s that playing on the radio?
The songs are speaking to us! We choose what we want to hear. We choose the songs that are important to us. We choose what our families hear. And we choose how we respond to each and every word of those songs. Be sure you sing with your family and with your brethren in Christ! And every time you sing a good song--be sure you listen!
©2002 Jonathan Hinckley
Jonathan Hinckley produces the website ChurchOfChristSing.com
He can be reached at jhinc25686@aol.com or (626)287-8184.