Make Melody in Your Heart

by Terry Wane Benton

Text: Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16

These two familiar scriptures on singing spiritual songs are set in a context of a “time of reformation,” in which the carnal and earthly temple and instruments are given their spiritual fulfillment in Christ. In contrast to the Old Testament or “first testament” (Hebrews 9:1) that made use of the earthly and carnal things “made by hands,” there is the new “time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:10). The physical and earthly system illustrated the spiritual things in Christ, but, the spiritual things in Christ ceased to use the carnal instruments of the Old system.

Ephesians speaks of the “heavenly” places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3,20) in contrast to the holy places of the earthly temple or tabernacle. In Christ we have Christ “filling all in all” (the hearts of people instead of the glory cloud filling the physical tabernacle or temple). We have a spiritual temple with Christ, the apostles, and the prophets as its foundation (Ephesians 2:19-22), and we are being built on that foundation as a place for the Spirit to inhabit. It is a spiritual house, a spiritual priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices (I Peter 2:4-9). Our army in this kingdom is not a physical army, and the “armor of God” for this spiritual army is also spiritual (Ephesians 6:10-18). The kingdom is spiritual, the temple is spiritual, and the army and armor are spiritual. The instrument for singing is “melody in the heart.”

Also, we see spiritual incense in Christ (Ephesians 5:2). Instead of “melody” (to pluck the strings) being made on the physical instrument (as seen in the old system), we have the spiritual counterpart, the strings of the heart (Ephesians 5:18-19) because of the “grace in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16).
In Colossians, we see the same spiritual context, where there is a counterpart to circumcision, but in our case, it is a “circumcision without hands” (Colossians 2:11), the cutting off of sins that Christ performs when we are baptized into union with Him.

We find Him also nailing the Law of Moses to the cross, and therefore no one is to judge us regarding foods, dietary laws, new moons, Sabbaths, festivals that were part of the Old Testament system (Colossians 2:13-17). Along that line, we are not to let anyone judge us regarding the carnal, earthly things that are no longer a part of God’s people. We don’t use animal sacrifices, the burning of incense, and instrumental music because the “time of reformation” calls for something new, different, and better.

Why were the carnal instruments dropped from use by the early churches? Historically, the early churches dropped the use of instrumental music on the same grounds that they dropped the physical temple, the physical army, the physical altar, the animal sacrifices, the altar of incense, and physical incense. All of those things pointed toward the good things that were to come in Christ. Notice the following:

• The “time of reformation” dropped all the shadows of the Law – Hebrews 9:1-10; Colossians 2:14-17
• Temple is now spiritual – I Peter 2; Ephesians 2:19f
• Circumcision is now spiritual – Romans 2:28-29; Colossians 2:11
• The melody to sing is “in the heart” (Ephesians 5:19)
• The army is spiritual – Ephesians 6:10-12
• The armor of God is spiritual – Ephesians 6:13-18

Thus, the time of reformation called for reforming from physical to spiritual instruments.

Learn to use the spiritual instrument, the heart's strings, effectively. Tune the heart-strings to give God your best. When you sing, pluck the heart-strings of:

• Real hope – I Peter 1:3-5; 2:4,5
• Real love – John 15:13; Romans 5:5,8
• Real faith and zeal – Romans 12:1
• Real thankfulness – Philippians 4:4-7
• Real reverence, respect, godly fear, and adoration – Revelation 4:11
• Real compassion – Ephesians 4:32

Without tuning these strings, there can be no “melody made in the heart.” God is not interested in us merely singing. Some people draw near with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. He wants us to make sure we know how to “make melody in the heart. Concentrate on being sure you are already in tune with God. And when the church engages in singing, be emotionally and spiritually in tune with the words and meaning of the songs. This is how we are filled with the Spirit.

To sing without making melody in the heart is to quench the Spirit. We must learn to tune our heart-strings and align our hearts with the words that come from our lips. Get the heart in tune with God! God bless all His spiritual priests who offer up spiritual sacrifices! May we all learn to do better with our singing from the heart!