A Lesson From Music (Part 1)

 

There is something wonderful about music. Music has so much power. It has the ability to change your mood completely -- good or bad. It can speak when you don't know how to say something. It comforts when you're sad. Music inspires us, it moves us in ways nothing else quite can.

Music is beautiful.

 I love music, and I listen to it nearly 24/7. I have the radio playing in my headphones while I sleep, and generally having something playing throughout my whole day.

I'm sure this is nothing new for you, though. 

Music is something that is beautiful, and was created by God. Just like so many other beautiful things that man gets a hold of: music can be twisted into sinful, ungodly things. Music itself is not good or bad. Music is a gift from God to us, and it is what we choose to do with that gift that matters. Music is a way for people to process their emotions, whether it is by listening to music, or making it. Artists make many, many, different types of songs...and we listen to them. We all live in a culture that glorifies all sorts of sin, and unfortunately a lot of that is found in music we listen to on a regular basis.

As I mentioned in my post "Follow The Yellow Brick Road?", GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out, or my version: Godly In, Godly Out (point number 5, just fyi).

Basically, what you are putting into yourself is what you will get out of yourself. Everything you interact with will have an effect on this: movies, books, people, music... etc, etc, etc. Everything around you is being processed in your mind. Just like people say "You are what you eat", well, "You are what you feed your mind", too. 

What does that even mean, anyways? When people say "you are what you eat" they're saying that what you're eating is affecting your physical health. This doesn't mean that because you eat unhealthy food you're going to be physically unhealthy -- it just means that if you are eating junk food (no matter the amount) it's going to be harder for you to be physically healthy. But if you eat healthy food, it'll be easier for you to be physically healthy as well. Of course, even if you eat healthy you might not be physically healthy anyways. You have to work to have a physically healthy body, you can't just eat your way there, you have to work at it with exercise. 

It is the same with what I'm saying here about feeding your mind. If you're feeding your mind with what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous, or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8), then it will be easier for you to have a God-focused life. But feeding it is not enough. You have to work at it, pull the weeds, and cultivate the flowers. Becoming someone who is centered around Christ takes work, you can't expect fruit without effort.
The flip side of this is, if you're putting in unwholesome (sinful) things in, it'll be harder to be a God-focused Christian. When you have worldly ideals, ideas, and thoughts poring into you through your music, it is bound to have some effect on you. 

Please don't think I'm condemning you and saying that you're a bad person because you listen to certain types of music, or that because you hear about certain things you're going to go and do all of them. You are an inherently sinful being, but that is not based on what type of music you listen to, it is because you were born to humankind. No matter what music you listen to, you still have a choice for your actions, and thoughts. It is not impossible to be a God centered person while having the worlds ideals promoted to you through your music -- it will just take more work. 

I do not pretend to know what is best for everyone, because quite honestly, I don't! What may be God's will in my life, may not be God's will in your life. For me, the type of music I listen to has a profound impact on my spiritual state, my emotions, and how I perceive the world. 

There was a period of time where I listened to almost exclusively non-christian music artists. The music I was listening to was certainly not as blatantly anti-God as some of the stuff out there, but nonetheless fed my mind dangerous ideas. During that time I had huge emotional swings, difficulty hearing God's voice, general irritability, and depression (self diagnosed) among other side-effects. I found myself turning towards music for comfort, thinking that it would help. Sometimes it did, but more often then not it only made me feel worse. Especially when the respective song described exactly how I was feeling: usually the message of the song was that I had a right to be upset about whatever issue, and as such it only fed my bitterness and self-pity.

God's beautiful gift of music was being used against me. Because of the ideas and ideals behind the songs, I was letting my guard down and allowing even more sin to enter into my heart. 

Thankfully God opened my eyes to how this music was affecting me, using the folks at Worldview Academy to do so. I was taught how to discern what I was consuming, and why that mattered.

Because now I know how obviously what music I listen to effects me, I've chosen to basically give up listening to anything other than "Christian" music. Almost exclusively I now listen to either Air1, K-Love, or some other Christian based radio station. This has helped me immeasurably! These stations play music that is encouraging to me as a believer, music that glorifies God, and music that feeds me spiritually, instead of draining me spiritually. It gives me hope, and strength, instead of self-pity and feeling like giving up.

As I said earlier, what God has for me is by no means what He has in store for you... But the lesson here is that we should take a good look at what we're feeding our minds. This doesn't only pertain to the realm of music, it comes at you from every direction.
Perhaps you are a stronger person than me (which is more than likely true), and listening to non-Christian artists does not have the same effect on you as it does on me. This would not surprise me at all, really. The questions here are: 

Does it glorify God? 

Does it edify yourself and others? 

What is the message behind the song you're listening to? --> Does it encourage the things of the World, or the things of God? 

Does it feed you in the things of God?

Or, does it feed your lust, temptations, self-centeredness, etc, etc?

What music you listen to is between yourself and God. I do not mean to in any way dictate what you should, or should not listen to, because what may be right for me in this regard may not be exactly the same as for you. God's perfect plan for you does not equal His perfect plan for me. 

That said, these are questions I believe that every Christian seeking to honor and glorify God with their life needs to ask themselves about everything in their life. 

I'm still learning, SO much. And I hope I will continue to learn, and learn, and learn in the things of Christ. Music is just one small facet of what this applies to. Being a discerning young woman of what I let penetrate into my heart is something that I'm learning still, even if I think I've understood where I stand in this one area of it. I'm a work in progress...but I am in progress. 

I fear this may be a rather touchy subject... Music is something that our culture holds high up. It was a idol in my own heart for a while there! I wrote this in love for you, because you are my brother or sister in Christ, not because I wanted to ruffle feathers, try to conform to what the world thinks, or any other hidden agenda there might be. 

Here's a few passages from the Bible I thought pertained to the subject.

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. - 1 Corinthians 6:12 

This verse is basically what I'm trying to convey here: we are free in Christ to all things... but don't let yourself be brought under the power of any thing other than Christ. The type of music I was listening to I let myself be "brought under the power" of. 

Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another conscience? For if I by grace be partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: even as I please all men in things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
- 1 Corinthians 10:29-33

We are not subject to eachother's personal convictions. If you can be a partaker of something that I cannot, give thanks for it without worrying about what I think about it! But everything you do: do it to God's glory. "Give none offence" I think means that if what you're doing is going to stumble another Christian, don't go and flaunt your liberty in front of them. It's like one man having a beer is fine (so long as he does not get drunk), but for another man having a beer would lead to numerous sins. So the first man should not go and guzzle a beer down in front of the second mans face, because that would likely be a stumbling block for him! Don't seek your own personal gain: seek gain for all.

I have a follow-up post in progress, that I hope to have up tomorrow sometime. 

Comments are welcome! Questions, too! :)

Your sister in Christ,

~Bekah