Singing Among God’s People

In His great wisdom and goodness, God has designed singing to be an instrumental (no pun intended 🙂 ) means of grace among His people.  Our singing to God, with and to one another, expresses thanksgiving to Him, along with instruction and admonition for each other.  And so God graciously commands us:

 

 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Col. 3:16)

 

Our rich heritage of biblically solid “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”, both old and new, demonstrates the centrality of singing among God’s people.  Who can measure the faith-strengthening impact of these songs, helping us give voice to our deepest joys, sorrows, longings, and praises?

 

This coming Lord’s Day we’re planning to sing an old song, with a couple new verses.   The ancient Irish lyrics to Be Thou My Vision date to the 8th Century, and were translated to English in the early 1900’s.  In addition to the four familiar verses found in our hymnal, we’ll add the following:

 

Jesus exalted in glory above

Thou my Redeemer through Thy precious blood

Now interceding my confidence sure

O my Good Shepherd be my vision pure

 

Spirit indwelling my Counselor Thou

Teaching, enabling by Thy holy power

Through Thy Word given perfect and true

Help and transform me while bearing Thy fruit

 

Beloved, one way we cultivate Christ-exalting love for each other is to heed the command of Col. 3:16.  Looking forward to gathering with you again, with these truths in mind!

 

Because Christ lives, and is returning,

Greg