I love the desire that many people have to worship in a more trinitarian sense—meaning preaching, singing, and praying that demonstrates our belief in a God who is “one in essence and three in person.” We must remember though, that just because a song is popular does not mean that it is Biblical. We must join our zeal with knowledge for our songs to be fruitful.

Christians are, by biblical necessity, trinitarian. We believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One of the ways our God calls us to worship Him is through song—especially singing in the gathering of the local church.

For many, the term “worship” only means singing, when the word worship encompasses far more than 3 songs we sing at Church on Sunday. It also encompasses obedience, communion, prayer, scripture reading, and more. Though we overemphasize musical worship in some ways, we also devalue it. We overemphasize musical worship by often making its “quality” the biggest factors that people use when choosing a local church.

Though we are hyper-focused on music being “engaging,” we devalue musical worship by reducing it to little more than a spiritual pep rally. Corporate singing turns into a product that we consume—if it’s up to our standard.

The songs we sing, and how we sing them, shape us—sometimes more deeply than the sermons we hear. Because of this, we should be careful that the songs we sing about God (and to God) are truthful in what they say about Him—Father, Son, or Spirit. There are some songs, albeit popular, that we should give greater thought to before singing.

I love the desire that many people have to worship in a more trinitarian sense—meaning preaching, singing, and praying that demonstrates our belief in a God who is “one in essence and three in person.” We must remember though, that just because a song is popular does not mean that it is Biblical. We must join our zeal with knowledge for our songs to be fruitful.

We shouldn’t sing things about God we made up, just because they are catchy. When we sing about the Holy Spirit, we should focus on the attributes on which scripture focuses. It is to our own disservice that many songs about the Holy Spirit reduce Him to a heavenly force or a rush of emotion.

Respectfully, popular songs like “Holy Spirit” or “Spirit of the Living God” fall short in this regard. They get stuck using vague language about things we want the Holy Spirit to do instead of anchoring the lyrics in God’s character and work revealed in scripture.

These words can feel powerful, but it’s not even clear what we mean by it.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]