Ryanne Molinari

January is over. How are your New Year’s resolutions going? I hope they’re going well but by this point, we are all probably less enthusiastic than we were at the beginning of 2025. As you take stock and weigh which resolutions to keep, which to let go, and which to revise, allow me to propose adding a simple resolution you may not have thought of: singing more.

Singing as a Spiritual Discipline

With each new year, I see many Christians (myself included) resolve to read their Bibles more, pray more, and attend church more. These are excellent resolutions and I hope that they stick. However, we often seem to overlook another crucial discipline: singing. More specifically, making melody in our hearts and addressing one another in song—worshiping through music both privately and publicly (Ephesians 5:19).

We do not tend to view singing as a discipline but, rather, as either 1) just another thing we do unquestioningly on Sundays or 2) a spontaneous outburst caused by strong emotion.

Now, I am all for spontaneous singing. But unexamined worship? Not so much. We need to think seriously about why we sing. Only then will we see the need to make singing a more regular habit in our lives—not just a special activity for Sundays.

In his epistles, Paul exhorts the early churches to be disciplined in their faith. He tells them that they must be saturated in Scripture, give thanks and pray continually, prioritize gathering together, and be careful not to neglect the needy in their congregations.

So far, no real surprises.

But you know what else he tells these early believers to do? Sing. In the midst of a passage advising against drunkenness and debauchery, Paul tells the Ephesians they should instead sing to and with one another. Singing replaces these bad habits with a good one. It is an act of discipline to turn our mouths from taking another sip of wine to pouring out praise. Paul even writes that when we sing, we exchange being filled with alcohol for being filled with the Spirit.

Singing is thus a spiritual discipline. Like any discipline, it takes practice and intentionality. The Ephesians could not just wait around for inspiration to strike; instead, they were told to make a conscious decision and concerted effort to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

We are used to being told to “sing joyfully.” But here we see that we are also to sing deliberately and habitually. Singing is a joyous discipline, but a discipline nonetheless.

Singing as a Unifying Discipline

By now, you might be thinking, “I’ve already resolved to spend more time in the Word, prayer, and fellowship. How can I possibly add another discipline to this ever-growing checklist?”

I have good news for you, weary soul: singing is not a stand-alone discipline. Rather, it unites and rejuvenates the others. It provides a beautiful way of meditating on and memorizing Scripture. It enables us to praise and pray simultaneously. It knits us together with others as we lend our breath to the same songs, participating in a shared emotional, physical, and spiritual endeavor.

Resolving to sing more is not about adding another burden to your heavy load. It is not about making a chore of your devotional life. Rather, I am confident that you will find (as I have) that singing bolsters and binds together your other disciplines.

Just consider the following:

What if, after spending time in the Psalms, you listened to Poor Bishop Hooper’s beautiful Psalm settings, work the Word into your heart as well as your mind?

Or what if you memorized a few verses at at time by singing along with contemporary Scripture settings by Verses?

What if, when struggling to find the words to pray because your feelings run too deep, you were able to fall back upon the comforting hymn “What a Friend We have in Jesus?”

Or, what if, when you’re overcome with a sense of God’s majesty and know that your words fall short, you could sing all “Holy, Holy, Holy” or “How Great Thou Art” from memory?

What if, once you’ve spent your week worshiping, you find that it is far easier and more enjoyable to sing with your church family on Sunday? What if you discover that you’re no longer as self-conscious? Or that you’re no longer struggling to follow along in songs you never listen to beyond Sundays? Or that your voice simply feels more prepared to sing with gusto?

Singing offers us an unmatched opportunity to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, to pray and praise, and to prepare for deeper and more comfortable fellowship with one another as we worship on Sundays.

Why wouldn’t we embrace this beautiful, enjoyable, unifying discipline?

Stay Tuned…

This post is the first in a five-part series on singing as a spiritual discipline. In the next post, we will take honest stock of our lives: Are we singing? When did we stop singing? What obstacles are keeping us from singing?

Please stay tuned!

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P.S. Yes, my cat is the featured photo for this article. Whenever I practice down in Studio B (my basement), she parades in, singing the song of her people. Taking my cue from my “mewsical” cat, I have made it a priority to sing more as I practice—worshiping with my voice as I work out phrasings and fingerings with my hands.