Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Joni Eareckson Tada: May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me from day to day, by His power and love controlling all I do and say.

Look, when I'm wheeling through the office, down the hallway, driving down the freeway, puttering in the backyard, sitting in the kitchen, I just love to sing. I wake up in the morning, I love to sing. My heart wants to sing whenever I'm enjoying the routines of life.

But have you ever wondered if Jesus sang? It's easy to picture Him singing, don't you think? Humming a melody as He walked up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, when He was on a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. We know they sang in the synagogues during the holy feast days. Jesus' family probably sang, surely they did. There must have been many times that the Lord's heart filled with joy to overflowing, and you just know He had to let loose with a song. So where in the Bible does it say that Jesus sang? Well, the only place it records such a time is in Matthew chapter 26, verse 30. The scene for the song is not on a sunny hillside. It's not as He sailed in a boat with His friends.

It is not as He walked along the beach with His disciples. No, it was in the upper room, the night that Jesus was betrayed. Matthew chapter 26, verse 30 says, "After He broke the bread and offered wine, they sang a hymn and then went out to the Mount of Olives." Don't you think that's amazing? Of all the times, of all the places that the Lord Jesus chose to have us remember Him singing is when He was led off to His death. The Bible wants us to know that that's when He sang.

And this should speak to me in my wheelchair and to you with whatever afflictions or limitations you are facing. It shows me how to follow the Lord in song when my heart is heavy and when I'm facing disappointment, or my back aches, or when I'm feeling rejected or facing hardship or illness, or just another day of paralysis. I have got to sing my way through suffering. And who is my example? Jesus. Jesus who, after He offered bread and wine, sang a hymn and then was led to His death.

And I think as you and I follow Jesus' steps up to the Mount of Olives and into the garden of Gethsemane and down that blood-stained, hard, rocky road to Calvary, we too need to take His example, take up our cross, and just sing. The Bible says that we die to self and rise to the Lord. Can we do that? Can we sing as we die to self each day and then sing a happy song as we rise to the Lord Jesus?

True, our natural inclination is not to sing when we are hurting. Yet think of the apostle Paul. He sang despite his chains, despite being beaten and flogged and being thrown in jail. So, friend, no matter if your emotions are up or down, happy or sad, please follow the Lord's lead today.

May the mind of Christ, your Savior, live in you from day to day, by His power and love controlling all that you do, all that you say. From now on, ask God to simply put a song in your heart as you pick up your cross daily and follow Him.