Why poems & lyrics?

So now that we’ve accpeted Jesus Christ into our hearts and have become children and heirs to the Kingdom of God, we pretty much have eternity figured out. But how about day by day? Like today, how should we live? What does the handbook of life say?

Ephesians gives us some pretty good pointers.

  • Put on the New Self

Eph 4:22-24 says, “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” So the first step is to say “bye-bye” to our old selves and to put on our new selves. Remember the Holy Spirit washing over you when you first believed, singing in worship, or that time when He comforted you when you were alone in your room? Put that person on and kick the old self out the door.

  • Walk in Love

Eph 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Jesus gave Himself for us: Remember Jesus on the cross? He did that for us. Why? He did it because He loves us. And this example of love is how we should love one another. Jesus gave us His one and only commandment saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34)

  • Walk in light

Eph 5:8 says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” What does that mean? Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” He said that right after the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They wanted to stone her, to kill her for it. Jesus brought to light the fact that none of the Pharisees were without sin and they had no right to condemn her. Jesus is the light of love and compassion that exposes the darkness, and we should be likewise.

  • Walk in wisdom by speaking poems and songs to each other

Eph 5:18-19 goes on to say, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” What form of communication should we engage in towards one another, and to the Lord? Psalms » Poems and Hymns » Spiritual Songs. We might recite spiritual poetry and sing spiritual songs to the Lord, but do we do that towards one another? No. Should we? ABSOLUTELY! God wants us to experience the fullness of fellowship with one another and with Him, and to accomplish this, a very important ingredient is for us to write poetry and sing songs of God to one another. We should remember to do this while putting on our new selves, walking in love, walking in light, and walking in the wisdom of the Lord.

So that’s why poems & lyrics. It’s this kind of stuff where we know from the depths of our hearts and to the limits of our being that My Jesus Rocks!