This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.   (Matthew 15:8)

When I was growing up, church and church activities were my favorite places to be. I especially liked the music and knew most of the songs by heart that they sang out of the dark green All-American Church Hymnal. In fact, I still have an old copy sitting on my bookshelf.

I especially liked the Sunday nights when we sang favorites. This was a time when you raised your hand if you had a favorite song you wanted sung, and if they called on you, the congregation would sing your song. When they picked me, the song I chose most often was Just a Closer Walk with Thee. Some people chose the same song every time, so it got to be a game with me, hoping and praying that so-and-so wouldn’t get picked because I didn’t like the song I knew they were going to choose.

Besides the Favorites nights, once or twice a year, we would have a Singspiration where we would all get together for two or three hours and have special music as well as singing the congregational songs. What memories!

Recently, God reminded me of a time when I must have been in my early teens. As I was standing there in the pew next to my friends singing out of the hymnal, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He asked me if I even knew what I was singing. The truth was, I didn’t. I knew all of the songs, and I was singing with all of my might, but I wasn’t paying any attention to the words coming out of my mouth.

Conviction fell on me like a lead balloon. I don’t know what the preacher preached that night because I was so wrapped up in this whole new revelation, trying to figure out how and why it happens. The one thing I know is that I learned I did it a lot. I was singing songs like:

All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

Was I really surrendering everything to Jesus? Was I loving and trusting him and living in His presence every day? Then there’s a song that is really a prayer from the heart:

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee; Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my will, and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine; Take my heart, it is Thine own; It shall be Thy royal throne.

That song wasn’t coming from my heart. I didn’t even realize I was praying as the melody came out of my mouth. Did I really want God to do these things? Then, I wondered how many times I missed out on God’s help, His comfort and peace, and His blessings when I didn’t pay any attention as I sang:

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Wow! Look at the other two verses when you get a chance. We could go on with other songs, and I do, indeed, challenge you to do just that.

That night I had to confess that I had only been giving God lip service. The songs I was supposedly singing to him weren’t coming from my heart at all. I was ashamed and asked God’s forgiveness because I truly didn’t want to be like that. I didn’t want to sing songs out of habit or because everyone else was singing them. I wanted to praise Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.

It’s important that we know and understand what comes out of our mouths and that we don’t take those words lightly. The power of life and death is in our tongues. We have been given the power to either curse ourselves or bring blessings to ourselves. We also need to realize that God knows our hearts and our motives. He knows whether or not we’re simply acting like a Christian or if we’re truly being one.

From that night God spoke to me, I changed. I am a lot more aware of what I’m singing, and when I sing, I sing from my heart. Yes, sometimes I still mess up and sing with my mouth and not my heart, but when I realize what I’m doing, I get myself back on the right track and start over.

Just a side note: Be careful of other songs you sing. Many times I’ve come out of a store or restaurant singing a song from the past with a catchy tune, not even aware that I’d heard it, let alone that I’m now singing it. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit makes me aware of what I’m singing, and I realize that the words don’t line up at all with what a Christian should be speaking. The devil would like nothing better than for us to curse ourselves or open the door for sin to come in.

I ask the Lord to help each of us to be those who draw close to God with our hearts, and not just with our lips.