I was reading about a parrot that actually would sing a hymn. It was in southern Spain in a house where some ladies lived, three of whom were happy Christians. Every morning and evening they would sing hymns together, and from hearing the words so often. Polly learned to sing the lines, “Come home, prodigal, come home!” Of course, the parrot did not know what it was singing, for it was only a bird.
I cannot help thinking that sometimes children, and grownups, too, sing hymns in the same way as Polly did—without thinking a bit about what they mean. Do you think God is pleased with such worship as that? Now He wants people to worship Him “in truth,” that is, really, not with their lips merely, but from the depths of their heart. The Lord Jesus declared that “true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” John 4:2323But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23).
Next time you find your thoughts wandering while you are singing in a meeting or at Sunday school, remember poor Polly, and try not to be like her, but to really mean what you are singing.
Then, too, many children sing hymns about coming to Jesus, and by their singing invite others to come to Him; yet they themselves have never come to the Saviour. It is like Polly singing, “Come home!” Dear young friends, don’t be like her any longer, but come to the Lord Jesus now for yourselves, and really mean it when you next sing an invitation to others to do so, too.
ML-03/30/1980