This morning we sang the great hymn by Charles Wesley: “Arise, My Soul Arise.” It is purely my opinion… but I think of all the current songs these days, none are better than this one.
There are some GOOD songs that are currently being written. There’s a revival of doctrine-rich, truth-filled lyrics among song-writers today, and I appreciate that. They’ve seen the worthlessness of the emotional 7/11 songs (singing 7 words 11 times) and have responded with a reemphasis on truth. To that, I say, “Praise God!” That’s what God always intended.
The problem is, no current song has withstood the test of time. New is not bad. But new hasn’t weathered the storms, either. All songs were new at some point. But not all songs last the trends.
Take the 70s and 80s styles of music. Think about the style of those days, and then think of some Christian songs that were popular in those days. Are those songs still popular? I doubt it. They were trendy, but laughable today.
The hymns, though, have stood the test of time. This morning’s timeless hymn, for example, is what I want to have in my life. I’m glad for these hymns, and I hope we never get to the place where we refer to them as quaint little songs of yesteryear.
Choir, you and I have the duty of upholding the timelessness of the hymns. Let’s sing them convincingly! 1 Cor. 14:24