Music affects our life, our outlook and our thoughts. It helps to shape who we are. Our song choices can make a positive impact in our lives, but they can also have a negative consequence and tear us down. Wouldn’t it be wiser to just stay away from music, then? No. That’s not what God says to do. What does His Word say regarding music? God doesn’t say we should stay away from music. In fact, he tells us to sing and make music to Him! Psalms is full of verses telling us to “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.” (Psalms 47:6) Music is something He created. He wants us to enjoy it!
However, it can be hard to figure whether or not the music we are listening to is beneficial to us. No Christian should want to put junk into their heads and hearts. God wants us to be pure. But how does one decide what music they should be listening to? There are a few ways.
1) If you just want to listen to a song because of the beat, look up the lyrics before you put that tune in your iPod playlist. While you may think that you’re not actually listening to the lyrics, you may be surprised how much you can actually remember of the words. I remember coming out of a store that I often shop in and I was singing lyrics that I didn’t want to be singing! I can still remember those lyrics and sadly, even though I’ve only heard it once, they’ve been burned into my brain. Words do matter even if you think you aren’t hearing them! Why would you want “dirty” things in your head? Paul said to the Corinthians “…I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3) I think that this can be applied to music choices, as well. Our choices can be used by the enemy for our ruin or they can strengthen our sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Use your discernment, follow your conscience and don’t forget your values and the things you’ve been taught by Godly leaders.
2) Ask God what He thinks about your music choices. You may think that that would be a waste of time, but He’ll answer you whether He does through conviction or some other way, He will answer because He cares about what you’re putting in you mind. Matthew 7:7 says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” Ask, and He’ll tell you because He wants you to be as pure as possible and music can either add or take away from the pureness.
3) Read the Bible and see what it says about music. According to Philippians 4:8 (which says “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”) if it’s pure, noble and true, you can be sure that it’s something God would approve of.
Some people assume that Christian music is boring. This is a very wrong assumption. You may see the Christian (or Gospel or Religious) genre and think that it’s full of old hymns and songs that aren’t relevant to you. While there are many hymns and slow songs, there are also many sub-genres like Christian Rap, Pop and Rock that contain amazing, inspiring and super fun songs! There are driving beats, catchy rhythms and creative lyrics. Everything you like in mainstream music, you can find right in the Religious/gospel/Christian genre. There’s bound to be something you like when you listen to Christian music! Personally, my favorite artists are TobyMac, BarlowGirl, Skillet, Hillsong United and Jamie Grace. Thousand Foot Krutch, Britt Nicole,
Addison Road
, and Rachael Lampa are just a few Christian artists out there with some wonderful songs.
As you can probably tell, I love music. It’s a beautiful, God-given gift to man. God can speak to every person through the lyrics of a Christian artist. I know lives that have been changed because of a single song they heard. It has an impact. Music is something that everyone listens to. Each of us can decide what genre/songs/artists we listen to. It’s a personal choice. Do you want to please your King with your decisions? If you line yourself up with God, seeking what He would want you to be listening to, you’re one step closer to keeping your mind pure. How are your music choices shaping your life?
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