Yesterday I talked about why we shouldn't clap while singing praises to God (if you didn't read it but want to, click here) so today I figured that it'd be a good time to talk about singing from our hearts.
When we sing, it can be easy to get distracted from what we're saying. Sometimes we can forget what we're doing because we've just sung that song so many times, that we can sing it without even thinking. In Ephesians 5:19-21 it says, "(19) addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart, (20) giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (21) submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." This is saying that we not only have to sing, but we have to be reverent, and give thanks to God in our singing. This also means that when we go to worship God, we should sing, because it's part of the worship that God wants from us.
But when we sing, we have to remember to mean what you're saying. If I sang the song, "All praises be, to the King of Kings, and the Lord our God, He is wonderful" but I was thinking about what I was going to eat for lunch, what would I really be singing? Probably, "I hope that I, can eat at Chilli's, maybe I'll get a steak, they're quite wonderful" Do you really think that God cares about my steak? Probably not. When we are singing praises to God, we need to make sure that God hears praises, and not plans for lunch. Sometimes it can be easy to get distracted, like if a little kid starts crying, or someone behind you is talking, to even if the person's shoe next to you is untied, and you're just dying to tell them, but we need to stay focused on what we're singing. Maybe you can tell the person sitting next to you to tie his shoe after the song is over, but when you're singing, you need to keep your mind focused on what you're saying, and devote those few hours of the week that we are worshiping to actually thinking about God, and being reverent.
