Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. (Colossians 3:16)
Continuing on from the previous meditation, these are closing statements from Paul to the small group of believers in the Roman colony of Colossae. Paul focuses their attention on some parting words, short phrases, concrete instructions, to remember.
First of these is a focus on Jesus. He tells his readers to let his message fill their lives. I like the phrase, “in all its richness.” Instruction to be filled with this very rich message is his instruction to them.
Then, he once again reminds his readers that they are part of a body, the Body of Christ. He does that by giving instructions to that body, telling them that they are to teach and counsel each other with God’s wisdom and direction—feeding into each other and helping one another through life.
And then Paul enters into a different realm, a different area of personal engagement. They are to let their souls reverberate. He does not instruct them at this point to engage with their intellect, or their wisdom, but with their hearts, the center of their beings. They are to do this with singing various kinds of songs, and in so doing, do so with “thankful hearts.” The singing of psalms (presumably from the Jewish hymn book by the same name), hymns (those that were coming into being by the young Christian community and shared among their fellowships, such as the one found in Philippians 1), and those that are called spiritual songs (songs that engage the spirit of the person, and which were possibly spontaneous, with words and music arising from the Holy Spirit). Paul is giving instructions of a sort of buffet of musical approaches. He doesn’t confine them to one type or kind, but each is added together to enhance the worship of God’s people.
Here’s the high note: in this approach, he tells his readers to enter into worship through music delivered with thankful hearts.
What kind of signing? By rote? By note? By head? It’s by heart. He’s directing singing with a thankful heart.
I think that sometimes it’s easy to go through singing motions. “Open your hymnbook and stand and sing number…”, and yet have our hearts far from the message of the song, or to sing with minds that are wandering. It seems that unless we are focused, it’s easy to be distracted. Singing is next on our agenda, so let’s take care of the agenda. That’s not the only time we sing to the Lord, of course, but it’s probably a main time that comes to mind when the Body of Christ thinks of singing together.
Paul wants us to put our heart into motion with gratefulness. We aren’t just singing, or singing because we are happy, or singing because it’s time to sing, but singing because we are grateful. That gratefulness is bubbling up from the inside, and spilling over. Our expression of thanks to God Almighty is not coming forth with just words, but also with musical tunes. It’s not just coming out from our heads, or our intellect, but from our hearts, our deep, inner being, that is lifting up thanks for all He has done to bring us to this point. Our words alone are insufficient to tell him thanks. Music adds another dimension to our gratefulness. Combined with words, music from the heart provides more richness to our expression—though we know that we don’t have the ability to fully tell God thank you!
Worship through music adds another dimension to the fullness of the Body: teaching is usually from one person, and we as a group engage with that message, soak it up, and apply it to our lives. But the singing described here is singing by the Body. It’s a communal, more than an individual, experience. It’s a special opportunity for the Body of Christ to say thank you, as a Body.
I don’t believe it’s unrelated that this focus on the full and rich message of Christ which Paul has described is leading to overflowing praise and singing.
Let’s encourage each other to cultivate grateful hearts, and enjoy times with each other when that gratefulness overflows through gifts of musical expression. All of it is pointed at the Source of all our gifts, and to Him we lift up our hearts with thanksgiving.
“Father, may our hearts express to you our thankfulness for all you’ve done for your people. We thank you for the gifts shared among the Body of Christ in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We thank you for those who have shared their gifts of song-writing and composition with the Body. As we celebrate you, and honor you, may our hearts overflow with thanksgiving, through singing.”
Freddy Boswell 