In my heart
For many years, the apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 3:16 have been a guiding principle for my life and ministry:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (NKJV).
Paul gave similar instructions to the Ephesian Christians:
“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, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20 NKJV).
Not only are songs to be a means of ministry to others, but, as Paul wrote, we should sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. The Lord sings over us, as the prophet Zephaniah wrote:
The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV).
So, why shouldn’t we sing in our hearts and minds (as well as with our voices) to the Lord? Well, this week, I was going about my business doing some menial tasks, and the words of an African American spiritual began turning over in my mind. I believe it was the Holy Spirit giving me words to pray and sing to express a deep longing that I have.
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.
I have been in vocational Christian ministry for over 40 years, and yet there are times when my work for the Lord seems not to come from a heart fully devoted to the Lord. Like you, I have heard of people in ministry, both well-known and little-known, who have succumbed to some temptation which has brought an end to their ministry and shame to the cause of Christ. I don’t condemn them but rather hurt for them and pray for whatever healing and restoration is possible for them. And I pray for myself, that I will not just be a “professional” or “vocational” Christian, but that my experience of God’s grace in salvation will be genuine, and my life will truly represent the lordship of Christ.
The genuineness of Christian faith is seen in the love we have in our hearts both for God and for one another. The writer of this spiritual saw this love as being key to being a Christian.
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.
In the familiar words of the apostle Paul:
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV).
I guess the Holy Spirit put the words of this spiritual in my mind to remind me of the work He is doing in me to make me more loving . . . and to make me more holy.
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.
Why did Jesus come to earth and live and die and rise again? Because God the Father “. . . chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4 NKJV). Lord, I want to be what you created me to be. I want to be a Christian. I want to be more loving. I want to be more holy. Bottom line, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.
To be loving is to be like Jesus. To be holy is to be like Jesus. Lord, make us more like Jesus!
Here is a beautiful rendition of this spiritual as arranged by Moses Hogan.
https://youtu.be/pmWpnmkPC60?si=6anmrZIrgqOSHIC3
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If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
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