Giving Thanks in Song (Part 1)
Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
The older I get, the more I appreciate the simple act of thanksgiving. No other verbal act has the power of a timely and appropriate word of thanks. It is an act that can move us to the highest realms of praise and at the same time an act that can bring us to the lowest depths of humility. It is an act that helps us appreciate what we have and an act that helps us recognize the want of others. It is an act that can convict us of the tiniest hypocrisy and an act that can bring us massive amounts of joy and contentment. It is an act that spits in the face of Satan and an act that embraces the wonders of God.
There are many ways in which we can be thankful. Let us consider in this brief study being thankful in our singing. Out of all of the acts of worship, in a lot of ways, singing can be the most emotionally satisfying. God certainly knew what He was doing when he incorporated singing into His worship. One may experience great sadness while singing or one may ride soaring waves of joy. Given the great range of emotion possible in song and the great range of attitudes engendered through thankfulness, singing is the perfect act of worship to couple with the attitude of thankfulness.
We have some great songs of thanksgiving in our hymnals. The song “For the Beauty of the Earth” is a song of thanksgiving. It poetically states in the chorus, “Lord of all to thee we raise, this our sacrifice of praise.” The sacrifice of praise as recorded in Hebrews 13:15 is thankfulness. (To be continued.)
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley