A few months ago we were tackling the topic about music since it is a very broad and controversial issue in the Adventist world and the world as whole. No one wants to talk about it because they just want to keep things calm or simply have no answers to the nagging questions. We the youth are more on the inquisitive side and we wanna know everything there is to know. From what kind of music to listen to personally as Christians to what we should be singing on stage in church, from how we should express ourselves while singing to what music should be sang in concerts, from motives of singing to what the big people(church leaders) have to say about it, from what kinds of singers are good to which ones are a-little-bit-too-much or a-little-bit-out-there.
It was not until we had wrapped up for the day did I realize that I personally had been doing it all the wrong way. Yeah, the wrong way. During the discussion we discovered that most of the time we sing just for the sake of singing. In most cases people will approach us and ask us to sing and in most cases we’ll be like “cool. We can do that” and the deal is sealed. We go up on the stage mistakes and all and deliver and call it a day. What we don’t realize is that there is so much more to just walking up on the stage, grabbing a mike and singing or playing an instrument, giving a polite if not proud smile and walking back down. There is so much more that we haven’t discovered that it took a full 18 years before I fully understood.
It could have been easier if it were showbiz because the sole essence of showbiz is to showcase who has the best voice ( which isn’t considered anymore nowadays) and charm and who has the looks and money enough to pull off all the stunts that the modernized music world has to offer (Think electro music).
There is a difference with singing just for show or money and singing for God. Singing for God requires the whole soul. It requires meditation, it requires a strong solid relationship with a loving Saviour so great and magnificent and wonderful that when you sing for Him you are totally wrapped up in His glory. When a whole soul is praising God, the music will be significantly different from when one is just singing to show how great he/she is. It will have meaning because the whole person is giving God praise or crying out to Him.
We used to wonder why exceptional music groups like Gaither Vocal band, Hillsong, Women of faith and many more had all that magic of turning ordinary songs into amazing music with meaning that compels people to naturally sing along and memorize. Something most ofus will not encounter in our day to day worship experience in our respective churches. What we don’t realize is that these people have a strong relationship with their Lord and it reflects through the music they sing.
The Max Lucado book drives it home when it says that ‘It’s Not About Us,’ it’s rather about Him. It is His story that we are talking about here. It was never about us in the first place. So if we want to fully give glory to God through music, we have to first take time and fully understand this person we wanna praise(most of the time we don’t even know what we are singing about. Seriously. Just because a song sounds catchy, we immediately fall in love with it). Take time to know Him better and His love for us as His children and His will for our lives so that when we proclaim to the whole wide world about His greatness that’s tremendous we mean it and it comes from deep within our souls and it is total praise.
After grasping this new found information, I realized there is work to be done. A lot of work to be done in me because change truly begins from within. It’s not gonna be easy but in the end I believe it will be worth it. Having fully realized that Jesus is our Savior and His love is so great He came to die for us so we may be free from the chains of sin and proclaiming it without shame or contempt whatsoever, it will be the most amazing thing. I believe when one is transformed by the blood of Jesus Christ, his lifestyle and character change too and will align with the Lords will for his life. I hope you take this journey with me as I am fully seeking the Lord and longing for a meaningful relationship with Him. Just as Hillsong sang, “we are running…chasing after all that You are because all that You are is all that we want…”
Image source: Here
🙂
Sophie
A Kitchen In Uganda 