Sundae Conversations

Music has been important to humanity for as long as we have recorded history. From King David to Bob Dylan, music has affected the lives of the performer and the audience in deeply spiritual ways. But why? It almost seems impossible to explain why music is important and diverse. The United States itself has produced everything from ragtime, blues, jazz, rock, folk, soul, pop, rap, hip-hop, gospel and so many more genres with sub-genres of their own.

God made music, plain and simple. Though it may seem the majority of music on the radio today couldn’t be farther from God, just because man abuses music doesn’t destroy the validity of the vast collection of music.  This is music that is not only beautiful, but helps us admit our faults, relate to God, and more importantly glorify Him. If you walk into the average church in America there will undoubtedly be music playing before the sermon is presented and sometimes before the “worship set” even begins. We sing songs of praise to the One who blessed us with this melodic sound. Lifting our hands, humbling our hearts, and bearing our souls to our Father to show Him but a fraction of appreciation, gratitude, faith, and love compared to the abundant mercy, grace, and faithful love He has shown to us.

Music is this God-given expression of the soul, but like all things we’ve found a way to exploit and cheapen it. Why would we expect that the music we worship God through to be immune to the cheapening that occurs in the mainstream? Churches and the “Christian music” scene are just as much responsible for lowering the quality standard for music heard on a daily basis. Shouldn’t we offer God our best? Shouldn’t the instrumentation of a song be just as important as the lyrics, and vice versa? If music is stamped with the label “Christian” we automatically assume that it is divinely inspired by God. This seems to leave out the artists that carve their soul into every note and word, bringing glory to their Creator with their talents.  But these artists can be overlooked so easily by the eyes culture has crafted for us. Music is one way God’s light can shine in this world, but there must continue to be people to strive for the pureness in music were God is found. Then we need to stand up and claim that music as our own and not settle for a lesser quality inspired to fill the pockets of the rich.