I dealt with a lot in my teenage years. It was then that I latched onto the idea of “fake it till you make it.” I have no idea how this concept was introduced to me, but it stuck and became truth to me. Sometimes, I would smile, but it wasn’t real. Granted, we all need to have discernment about what and when to share, but there’s a difference in exercising discernment and being fake.

This past year, God gave me notes of encouragement for people in the form of acronyms. One of them was SNOW (right after our blizzard): See New Obstacles as a Way to a win. Another was JEWEL: Joy-filled Everyday, even When Evil Lurks. I enjoyed writing them. The last one He gave me was SMILE, and there is nothing fake about it! This one was different. It wasn’t a silly sentence squished into a few words. This one carried a little more weight. And when I asked Him for something to write, He said to share this one with you.

S – Sing a new song to the Lord (Psalm 96:1).

I already shared with you that I latched onto “fake it till you make it”. Looking back, I assume a big reason was because I had walked away from God, and I didn’t have anything more powerful than myself to latch onto when things were hard. When I was in a good mood, I often listened to upbeat music. When I was in a bad mood, I listened to sad music, which only made my moods worse and last longer. The issue wasn’t the music; it was my heart. I was looking for something to fulfill me that wasn’t designed for that purpose, but I wasn’t yet willing to seek after God.

Perhaps you’ve heard my story, and you know that God allowed everyone close to me to be stripped away, so that He was the only one left. In a 300-seat pit class on the UW-O campus, I finally heard a “new song”. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what songs were played. The “new song” was the invitation, the praise, the glory to God. Though I can’t recall his face, I still remember the passion the worship team had. Then the worship leader gave the invitation for our hearts to sing a new song to the Lord. He made it available to all when he said, “We are no different than you.”

When you accept the invitation to turn (or turn back) to Jesus, He promises to make you new:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;

behold, all things have become new. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

Friends, you have been made new in Christ Jesus. If today is a happy day, sing a new song to the Lord! If today is a hard day – I know several friends have recently lost loved ones – sing a new song to the Lord! You can’t sing an old song to the Lord when you’ve been made new. He doesn’t expect our songs to always be happy. We don’t need to fake anything with Him! The Lord knows the truth and loves it when we’re real. He knows the real you. He loves the real you. He wants the real you.

Friends, we don’t sing to Jesus because of our circumstances or anything having to do with us. We sing to Him a new song, solely because He is Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song … For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; ~ Psalm 96:1,4 NIV