Bulletin Articles
Singing with Conviction
1 Corinthians 14:15 — “What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, & I will also sing praise with my understanding.”
For the last 8 weeks different men have written about a favorite hymn of their own. We did this not to just share a fun fact about ourselves, but to come to a better understanding of the words we sing.
In the final article of the series, I would like us all to think about how often we sing without thinking about the words. How many times have the words we thoughtlessly sang made liars out of us? Consider a few lines from some famous hymns:
“Sin, with it’s follies, I gladly resign, all of its pleasure, pomp and it’s pride.” (#325 - Nearer, Still Nearer)
“When I am sad, to Him I go; No other one can cheer me so. When I am sad, He makes me glad: He’s my friend.” (#117 - Jesus is All the World to Me)
“Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.” (#230 - When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)
“Jesus take this heart of mine; Make it pure and wholly thine. Thou hast bled and died for me; I will henceforth live for thee.” (#452 - Jesus Loves Me)
Do you see my point? How many times have we sang these songs and not truly committed to the things we just sang? Singing with understanding includes singing with conviction. Will I resolve to do the things I sang about? Not all hymns are designed to call us to action, some are simply praise to God, others are thanksgiving. But as mentioned above, many are calling us to some kind of deeper change!
These hymns are not only for our mutual encouragement, but as Paul said: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16) These hymns are supposed to result in the word of Christ dwelling in us. Will we allow these words convict us to change?
