Ask any Christ-follower and they will usually voice their opinion about congregational praise music … which type of songs are appropriate and their personal preference … traditional hymns or contemporary worship songs?
A psalm is a sacred song or hymn. The Old Testament contains an entire Book of the Bible dedicated to songs … The Book of Psalms (found between the Book of Job and the Book of Proverbs).
Hymns are typically more lengthy; they define God’s character and our relationship with Him, and are a deep expression of worship and thankfulness. Hymns tend to be poetic and for congregational singing.
Contemporary songs aren’t often as biblically in-depth and they contain few words; lyrics can be repetitive and sometimes even mimic romantic love. Many contemporary songs are designed to stir emotions and awaken our desire for God; they tend to be written for solo or small-group performance and are often improvised; and a great number of them are dictated by instrumental arrangements.
Psalms 95:1 says, “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.”
God wants all of us, all of our being. John 4:24 - “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” He desires our praise songs to be a joyful noise straight from our heart to Him (of course using biblically accurate words *). The praise should be about Him and what He has done, not about us. While many, many contemporary Christian songs are wonderful, have you noticed that some lyrics don’t talk about the shed blood of Jesus as much as the old hymns do? It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that without the shed blood of Jesus, we wouldn’t be able to spend eternity in heaven with Him. (* Which Bible are you reading and studying? It could impact how you sing praises to Him.)
Psalms 104:33 - “I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.”
Read through the Book of Psalms to learn about singing praises to God for His mercy, judgment, wondrous works, power, defence, glory, deliverance ... how to give thanks for His Spirit, majesty, holiness, righteousness, salvation, comfort, faithfulness … how to rejoice and praise Him for the marvelous things He’s done and the victory He’s won!
Consider being open-minded about praise music. We are all created uniquely and have different preferences, and as long as we are truly praising Jesus from the heart, while we have our being, isn’t that what matters?
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