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Youth Choir
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Singing Is To Be Accompanied by the Heart
Our singing must be accompanied by a well-tuned instrument. That instrument is to be the heart, and in the context, a heart filled with the Spirit. When Paul adds, “singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19) he is explaining how they were to be “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” The singing commanded in the expression “speaking to one another in psalms, etc.” emphasizes a horizontal and corporate dimension. This second clause, “singing and making melody in your hearts,” reveals that it also has a vertical and individual focus.
The voice is used in singing and the heart is the instrument that is accompanying it. The words “making melody” are a translation of the verb psallo. The word means to pluck a string and therefore to play a lyre or harp and then to play any instrument as an accompaniment to the voice. So Paul is picturing the heart as a musical instrument that accompanies the voice as it sings psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. He is not speaking of two different types of singing here but rather one singing that is audible, musical and with and engaged heart.
Our singing should be expressing the true aspirations of our hearts and the truths we sing require an inner reflection and assent. The Spirit was poured out so that God would not have to say to us as He did to Israel, “…this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote” (Isa. 29:13).
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