Dwelling Place
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Col 3:16 NASB)
What dwells in your heart? What has made its home there — set up beds, a kitchen, tables and chairs, a nice cozy couch? What has taken up residence, hanging pictures on the wall, drapes for the windows, books for the shelf? What plops down in your heart and acts like it owns the place?
Sometimes, it can be bitterness. When bitterness and resentment make their dwelling in the home of your soul, the whole house takes on their decorative touch. Nothing is right, and no one’s on your side. Same with envy. Everyone else has it better than you, even though they — THEY — don’t deserve it. Lust turns a beautiful home into a dingy, dirty, smelly hovel. Greed — well, greed’s house is never big enough, and never has enough to fill it.
But the apostle Paul says to let something different dwell in your house. The word of Christ. The word that says that the bitterness, the envy, the lust, the greed, the idolatry are forgiven. The word of truth, the gospel, when it dwells in you, it evicts the sin that has treated your life like a flophouse, and it restores your soul.
What does this have to do with leading others in worship? Well, just about everything. Because as a leader, when your own house is full of sin, it spills out into the yard. Maybe you can keep your lawn looking good for the neighbors for a while, but your teams, your people, your congregation will see the overflow of what’s in your house. Anger, laziness, dishonesty — these things will begin to pile up in the yard, and will infect your team.
So to the worship leader, the minister of music, the song leader, whatever they call you, the first order of importance in your leadership is taking care that the word of Christ, the gospel, is dwelling in you. And richly! Take the time to let it seep in, take hold. Let the songs you choose work on you before you take them to the worship team, the choir, or the church. Let the scriptures you’re preparing for the services go deep into your heart. Those scriptures hold green pastures and quiet waters. And always keep praying, knowing that every request is heard by the One who can do something about it.
From the dwelling place of Christ, there will be an abundance of provision for your ministry, for your teams, for your choirs, and for your church. When the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs are speaking to you, they will speak through you to others.
