Choices in Music

The Bible is really pretty clear on music. To me, the most important verse on music is Ephesians 5:19:

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

This is the only place that I know of where we are told what kind of music to listen to or partake in, whether playing it or singing it. The main idea is that our music ought to be to the Lord.

It’s the same idea that I have talked about in some of my preaching and teaching about acknowledging God in all we do (Proverbs 3:6). It would be awfully hard for me to justify going into a bar and getting wasted and acknowledging God in it. Could I seriously bring myself to thank Him for the ability to make that decision and make a fool of my drunk self? Would God be anywhere near that? I think not…

So the same goes for our music. If the music we listen to and sing are all about our spouses committing adultery, or the pleasure in acts of fornication, or how a beer can chase away our sorrows, how can we seriously convince ourselves that singing about and listening to songs about this subject matter is for the Lord? All of these subjects are things that God’s Word is clearly against. It is displeasing to God, it is sin, and God hates it!

So many people, many (if not most) of them teenagers, are so caught up in the world’s music. Church going people, at that. They don’t count it a big deal. “It isn’t hurting anything,” many think. How do I know this? I was once one of them. I liked country. When I finally stopped thinking that way and accepted the truth that God hated it, I got rid of it. When I made the decision, I immediately felt at ease in my soul and relieved of the burden of carrying that sin with me. That by itself was enough, but to know that my choices in music were more pleasing to my God was icing on the cake.

The sad part is that when I was in the middle of it, I didn’t know how weighed down I was by it. I fear that is the situation many people are in today. The main thing they think about is something along the lines of how catchy the tune is, how popular the singer is, or how fun it is to think about (or act out!) what the song encourages.

The devil uses music to keep people’s minds off the the things of the Lord. He has a pretty good advantage over us, too. As Lucifer, he was a musical angel. His body had pipes built in that he would make music with. When he was cast out of Heaven, I don’t find where that part of him was removed, nor the knowledge of music. I guarantee he knows more about music than anyone that has ever lived on this earth. That said, don’t you think you should be extremely careful about what music you allow yourself to listen to?

Last thing and I’ll end this long post. Even some so-called ‘Christian’ music is wrong, in my opinion. It mimics the world’s music to gain popularity and appeal to the listener. Yes, it has Christian words, but the music is so overbearing that they are lost in the beat and melodies. Going back to my favorite verse on the subject (Ephesians 5:19), it’s hard to sing a hymn with a hard rock beat. I can’t imagine that David’s psalms were screamed by a rapper.

Let’s keep the main thing, the main thing. Make sure your music is glorifying and honoring to God. To please Him, after all, is what our lives should be all about.