Wednesday’s Word-Edition 106
September 4, 2013 | My Jottings
“Today we sing songs that are so dishonest that I sometimes hesitate to sing them. Yet when we sing the average hymn, if God Almighty compelled us to be entirely 100 percent honest, we simply could not sing them because their words would not be true of us…it is only by a charitable adaptation of the truth that we are able to sing most of the hymns we sing.”
– A.W. Tozer, Living As A Christian
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To be perfectly honest, when I read this quote by Aiden Wilson Tozer, I had to admit that I’ve thought the same thing when I’m in church. Singing songs about my devotion to the Lord when my flame is burning pretty low…
Have you ever had similar thoughts?
Hot potato. Hot potato. 😀
What I think is if it seems the song is more about me than God, I don’t sing it. If I think the words are theologically unsound, I don’t sing it. If I think either the lyrics or the music are questionable, I don’t sing it.
That leaves the question [in my mind at least] of what is the purpose of praise? To give glory to God. Whether we are worthy, whether what we are saying is true of us at that particular moment, is irrelevant. We are praising: Father. Son. & Holy Spirit.
The thing is, when we elevate God, however poorly, we align ourselves with His Spirit & more likely than not are positioning ourselves in Him in such a way as His grace can do for us what we cannot.
Remember, it is Satan who accuses ~ & guess who’s happiest when we refrain from praising God.
Hi Ganeida. I completely agree with you about the songs known as “navel gazers” — they make me very uncomfortable. I don’t want to sing a song about myself in any way, and I sense true worship happen when a song leads me to gaze upon the Lord and His beauty and power. An example of a song I might have a hard time singing honestly would be “I surrender all” because I’m aware that there are things in my life I’m still not fully trusting Him on, or giving up complete control on. It feels less than true when I sing those kinds of songs. I always enjoy your deep thoughts, dear friend! “The thing is, when we elevate God, however poorly, we align ourselves with His Spirit & more likely than not are positioning ourselves in Him in such a way as His grace can do for us what we cannot” — soooo marvelous. xoxo