It was just a scant two years ago when (A) You couldn’t pay me to listen to Christian music and (B) I would intentionally show up late to church so I could miss the 2 or 3 songs they did at the beginning - it was pure torture to me.

One of the (many) reasons why this was so difficult for me to enjoy was because I thought it was something I needed to enjoy. Let me explain that one. I was making that part of the service about me… I thought about how I either liked or didn’t like the music, whether I irritating those around me with my off-key singing, what the message would be about, or maybe even what I was doing after church.

It’s Not About Me

The point of worshiping God in song or in any other area of our lives is that it is about him - otherwise we may as well be doing whatever else it is we are thinking about or wishing we were doing. A song may not be our favorite - we may not like it at all, but maybe someone else there does. Maybe God likes it He knows the thoughts of our heart and doesn’t need us to “pay our dues” by being there with a poor attitude.

When I was a kid, I attended a boring church - I mean reeaaallly boring. There was an order to the service that you could memorize, but it was actually written down in great detail in a book right in my seat. Amongst the ritual, nobody ever really explained why we were there, and my questions for clarification on church doctrine were casually put off. One time, I got the bright idea to sneak out of church. The third week that I snuck out, I was caught and told to come back in. I think on some level I knew that if my heart wasn’t in it, there wasn’t much point in me being there. The explanation given by the authority figures was brief and to the point of that “church is something you just do and when I get older, I can do whatever I want.” I understand what they were going for because there are many things we have to do that we don’t want to, BUT… it was the wrong application of that lesson. I didn’t understand Christianity or God back then and I stopped going to church the second I didn’t have to.

I’m afraid there are two very large groups of people nowadays. People who don’t understand Christianity and don’t go to church because they didn’t understand it, or people who go out of a sense of obligation, but don’t “get it” either. Figuring out if I’m included in that first group is easy, but the second group is tougher to self-diagnose without serious honesty with oneself.

What I mean by “getting it” is not a particular interpretation of scripture, but “How has your heart and life changed since you have known Christ”? I’ve been right there… even now, I’ve gone months where I just “mailed it in” with God - not allowing a relationship with Christ to grow and stretch me. That doesn’t affect my salvation once I have been saved, but I do believe it affects God’s plan for our part in his grand plan to some degree.

If you are in either of those two groups mentioned above, I want you to know

• How much God loves you
• How “real” he is - God is in every facet of our lives whether we recognize it or not
• That the Bible is 100% real, you can understand every word in that book, that it is exciting and interesting (seriously ) and our lives are relevant to what is contained within its pages.
• What the real purpose of music in Church is about

That is a big list, so we’ll stay on topic and cover the last one in that list. Hopefully this explanation of the real purpose of music in Church speaks to the “kid sneaking out of church that just wants to know ‘why’.”

Giving God Glory through Song

I’m finally starting to realize now that every part of our lives is meant to worship God and be an enjoyable addition to his family. It’s not that he will love us more, but we should enjoy providing him enjoyment.

Side note - If you want to know more about this, pick up a copy of the Purpose Driven Life. It’s a super-easy read broken down into 40 days and is really targeted to those in either of the two groups I mentioned earlier. It isn’t “elementary” or patronizing in any way, but it is definitely a must-read.

How do we give God enjoyment, much less enjoy providing God enjoyment? There are an infinite number of ways, but one of them is by making music to him. Do you sound like a strangled cat and have full citizenship in the rhythmless nation? No problem - worshiping God through music is like the macaroni pictures we gave to our parents. Most of them probably were not great works of art, but our folks derived great enjoyment out of them because a few years back we were laying in our own poop, staring off into space and it just amazed them to see how much we had grown. He’s happy with it all so long as our heart is in the right place.

What Kind of Music Honors God?

God gave us the ability to make music so don’t get hung up in what style is more pleasing to God. Anyone who tries to get you to think “X” way is better than “Y” way, or that “X” style of music is sinful/doesn’t honor God is wasting your time. The lyrics - that’s another story. I’m not saying it has to be a bunch of “churchy terms”, but use the discernment that God has given you. Does this give God glory? I’ve written some very dark songs before that came from my life experiences, but the overall message is either one of hope, or it’s just dark and hopefully reminds me of those times and not to repeat them. I think that gives God glory should I or anyone else hear the song.

Conclusion and Shameless Plug

In the end, evaluation of sharing our musical talents with God lies with the Lord himself. So, enjoy making music to God in your heart. If you don’t like the music at your church but still feel the church is where God wants you, remember that this is for God, not us. There are also some great CDs we can always listen to in the 140-some-odd hours while we are outside of church like Brandon Heath’s truly excellent release.

Quick video intro about Brandon Heath

His Myspace page with a couple songs

His website

Enjoy!

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