Recently, I started reading a book, loaned and recommended to me by a friend, titled "Worship As David Lived It" by Judson Cornwall. I haven't finished reading it, but one part I thought was interesting said this, "Just as advertisers learned long ago that a singing commercial will be remembered faster and longer than a spoken one, David [the Old Testament King] knew that the more the people sang about God, the faster they would learn about Him." He goes on to say, "Truth sung is truth reinforced..."
Thinking through that statement, I’m reminded of many of the songs that we sing. When we sing, “Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come.” We’re singing directly from Revelation 4:8. When we sing, “There is only one God. There is only one Mediator.”, we’re singing directly out of 1 Timothy 2:5-6. When we sing, “I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom.”, we’re singing directly out of Jeremiah 9:23-24.
The things we are singing are helping us to reinforce actual truth that’s spoken through the Word of God! But that’s not all… my personality is not one of vast amounts of emotion. I don’t often find it easy to express myself, nor to say the things I mean much of the time. Maybe you fall into that same camp, and find yourself feeling the same way? If you do (or even if you don’t), it’s important to realize that we can sing things that we find difficult to say.
Something that I had not thought about before reading this chapter is the idea of love songs. Why do we have so many love songs? The author seems to think that it’s because “singing truth” is easier than “speaking truth”. After thinking through this, I have to agree with him. I have spoken to a number of you who have stated how you sing to your spouses. When Charis and I got married, I sang, “I Will Be There” by Steven Curtis Chapman. A very “typical” song for a Christian wedding, but the words spoke truth that I wanted to convey to her in a way that was more meaningful than me simply speaking them during the ceremony. As a side benefit, it also has provided me with years of profitable memories of what I have committed myself to. “I will be here when you feel like being quiet, when you need to speak your mind […] I will be here when the laughter turns to crying through the winning, losing, and trying […] I will be here to watch you grow in beauty and tell you all the things you are to me […] I will be true to the promise I have made to you and the One who gave you to me […]”
I will often times find myself singing those words in my head and it further reinforces that I have promised that I will be here through anything and everything that we could possibly go through in this life.
You too may find it difficult to say how much you love God, how much you want to serve Him, to offer up your life to Him, but you most assuredly can sing along to, “I lay me down I’m not my own, I belong to You alone”. Or even, “In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones He came to save. ’Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live!” By singing those words you are not only speaking general truth about the salvation given through Jesus Christ, but you’re also singing specific truths from Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 2:14.
Judson concludes the chapter by saying “[For David] Singing was a tool. Transformation was the end goal.” That statement aligns with Good News as well. For us, singing is a tool to help reinforce the truths of God’s Word that are preached by Mario and Isaac. But it isn’t the finish line. Transformation of your life is the goal. May this help to solidify the importance of singing and one of the reasons why it’s such an integral part of what we do at Good News Church.
Thinking through that statement, I’m reminded of many of the songs that we sing. When we sing, “Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come.” We’re singing directly from Revelation 4:8. When we sing, “There is only one God. There is only one Mediator.”, we’re singing directly out of 1 Timothy 2:5-6. When we sing, “I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom.”, we’re singing directly out of Jeremiah 9:23-24.
The things we are singing are helping us to reinforce actual truth that’s spoken through the Word of God! But that’s not all… my personality is not one of vast amounts of emotion. I don’t often find it easy to express myself, nor to say the things I mean much of the time. Maybe you fall into that same camp, and find yourself feeling the same way? If you do (or even if you don’t), it’s important to realize that we can sing things that we find difficult to say.
Something that I had not thought about before reading this chapter is the idea of love songs. Why do we have so many love songs? The author seems to think that it’s because “singing truth” is easier than “speaking truth”. After thinking through this, I have to agree with him. I have spoken to a number of you who have stated how you sing to your spouses. When Charis and I got married, I sang, “I Will Be There” by Steven Curtis Chapman. A very “typical” song for a Christian wedding, but the words spoke truth that I wanted to convey to her in a way that was more meaningful than me simply speaking them during the ceremony. As a side benefit, it also has provided me with years of profitable memories of what I have committed myself to. “I will be here when you feel like being quiet, when you need to speak your mind […] I will be here when the laughter turns to crying through the winning, losing, and trying […] I will be here to watch you grow in beauty and tell you all the things you are to me […] I will be true to the promise I have made to you and the One who gave you to me […]”
I will often times find myself singing those words in my head and it further reinforces that I have promised that I will be here through anything and everything that we could possibly go through in this life.
You too may find it difficult to say how much you love God, how much you want to serve Him, to offer up your life to Him, but you most assuredly can sing along to, “I lay me down I’m not my own, I belong to You alone”. Or even, “In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones He came to save. ’Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live!” By singing those words you are not only speaking general truth about the salvation given through Jesus Christ, but you’re also singing specific truths from Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 2:14.
Judson concludes the chapter by saying “[For David] Singing was a tool. Transformation was the end goal.” That statement aligns with Good News as well. For us, singing is a tool to help reinforce the truths of God’s Word that are preached by Mario and Isaac. But it isn’t the finish line. Transformation of your life is the goal. May this help to solidify the importance of singing and one of the reasons why it’s such an integral part of what we do at Good News Church.
