Make It Better

Make It Better

His name was Isaac, and he lived over 300 years ago in London, England. He was a very smart young man. By the time he was five years old, he had learned Latin; by the age of nine years old, he had learned Greek; by twelve years of age, Isaac had mastered French and Hebrew. He was gifted musically and showed great potential.

As a teen, he became dissatisfied with the music in his home church. Keep in mind that this was 300 years ago in England. His family attended the very formal Church of England where almost all of the music consisted of high church anthems. Isaac felt like they should sing songs about Christ and the cross. He thought that salvation and redemption should also be emphasized in the music.

One day, he complained to his father, a deacon in the church, about the dead, dry, starchy service that they had just sat through. His dad rebuked him by saying, "Son, that's the way we have always sung, and if you think you can do a better job, then do it. Why don't you write better songs for us to sing?"

Young Isaac said, "Okay, Dad. I will do that."

By the next Saturday, he brought his dad a song that he had written. His dad picked up the piece of paper and read, "Alas, and did my Saviour bleed, and did my Sovereign die. Would He devote that sacred head, for such a worm as I?"

His dad said, "Son, this sounds pretty good. I will take it to church tomorrow and see if they will sing it." He did take it; the church did sing it, and for the next 222 consecutive Sundays, Isaac Watts wrote a song for his dad to take to their church. Think about that! That is over four years of writing and composing a new song every week!

Yes, the great writer of "At the Cross," the composer of "We're Marching to Zion," the author of "Am I a Soldier," the one who penned "Joy to the World," got his start as a disgruntled teenager!

Young person, if there is something in this world that you don't like, why don't you do something to make it better?

by Dr. Mike Sisson, Principal, Hammond Baptist Grade School
(taken from Christian Womanhood, January 2003)
(Used With Permission)

Note: I was originally given permission to use this article on EarnestlyContending. The page I had it on for many years was lost with the rest of our website when it was repeatedly hacked in 2021. If you are the author and if there is any problem with me posting it here, please let me know and I will remove is asap.