Doing The Best We Can At Singing

It seems many Christians think “doing the best we can” at religious singing means making the singing as “pleasing to human ears” as possible. Does anybody know a New Testament passage that teaches such is important in the least to our singing? Instead of making our singing the most beautiful to men, shouldn’t we concentrate on making it the most pleasing to God? After all, our singing “is not for man, but for … God” (I Chron 29:1).

Without doubt, what is pleasing to God in our singing is if we are doing it “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). “In truth” in this case would mean singing words that teach scriptural truth (John 17:17), not false doctrine. Since we are teaching those around us in our singing (Col 3:16), we had better be teaching them the truth (John 8:31-32). “In spirit” in this case would denote meaning what you are singing. Three illustrations …

A very conscientious Christian friend of mine recently texted me that he felt guilty for leading a song that talks about praying to God “night to night” when his “prayer life was not good.” I think he really gets what I am saying here. His confession inspired me to write this article. The goal is not to sound pretty to man, but to mean what you say/sing (Eph 4:25).

Another example: there are a lot of songs we sing that talk about kneeling in prayer, but how many Christians actually get on their knees to pray with any regularity (Mark 1:40, 10:17, Acts 7:60, 9:40, 20:36, 21:5)? If the song says “I kneel in prayer,” then I had better be doing that sometimes. Practice what you preach/sing (Matt 23:3 “for they say, and do not”).

And have you noticed how many of our songs talk about trying to reach the lost? As enthusiastically as we sing about it, you would think the whole “church” was going “every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:1,4, Matt 28:19-20), but is that really anywhere close to being the case? Do what you advocate/sing (Matt 23:4).

One final thought: Mal 2:13ff would demonstrate doing the best you can in singing on Sunday would mean living the godly life Monday through Saturday. God does not accept our worship even if we are technically doing the correct things in worship – if our daily morality is lacking.

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