Stay Tuned

Honoring God With Our Music
“Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” (1Jn.5:21)

For this first Stay Tuned article, I thought I would discuss how we can honor God with our music.  This is and always has been a real concern of mine.  By nature I am a driven individual, and, left to myself, tend to become too preoccupied with my music, to the point of neglecting the Lord.  I began playing the banjo in 1977.  I soon began playing 3 hours or more a day, and sometimes 8 hours a day on weekends.  After a couple of years, I joined a full-time gospel bluegrass band, Gloryland.  During my one year stint with Gloryland, we played in churches and festivals throughout California, as well as throughout the western United States.  Fortunately for me, God was working in my life during that period of time, so that when I left the band and settled in Fresno, I decided to give myself wholeheartedly to serving the Lord and growing spiritually.  For me, this meant I had to make a decision. In my honest soul-searching before God, I had to admit that in some ways I had allowed my music to become an idol in my life.  It had often occupied the place in my priorities and heart that should have been reserved for Jesus Christ alone.  Thus, in order to serve God with my whole heart I decided I needed to set my music aside.  So, for about 20 years I rarely, if ever, played my banjo.  It sat in its case under the bed.  Instead of occupying my time with music, I devoted my time to my family and serving in my church. 

It has only been in the last 7 years, that I have felt the freedom to begin playing the banjo again.  However, I need to be very careful that my music doesn’t usurp Christ’s rightful place in my life. If I’m not careful, I can easily allow my music to take the dominant place in my thoughts and hearts – the place which Christ alone should have!  I suspect what is true about me is probably also true about you.

The very first of the 10 Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex.20:3).  Our God is that which we serve and worship, the master-passion of our lives.  What is your master passion?  If Jesus Christ is not your master passion, then you have embraced another god above the true and living God of Scripture.

The apostle Paul describes the heathen as those that “worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom.1:25).  If our music is more important to us than our service to Christ, we are worshipping the gift over the Giver of the gift.  This is no light matter, but one we need to consider very carefully.  

Well then, how can we honor God with our music?  Here are three suggestions for you to prayerfully consider.

Realize that the ability to make music is a gift from God.  Therefore we should regularly thank and praise God for granting us this ability.  The next time you get out your mandolin, fiddle, banjo, dobro, guitar, or bass, take a few minutes to thank God for the gift of music.

Make a commitment that you will not allow your music to take priority over your service to Jesus Christ.  If you are practicing on your instrument regularly, but are not making time to read the Scriptures and pray, your priorities are out of balance.  If you can make time to be at jam sessions and bluegrass festivals, but can’t make time to be involved regularly in a local church, something is wrong.

Seek to use your music as a way to serve Christ and proclaim the good news of the gospel. I regularly play my banjo out in public. When a curious bystander comes close to listen, I’ll give them a smile and a gospel tract to read. Would it be possible for you to find other like-minded Christian bluegrass musicians, and form a band which could minister the gospel?  You could go to public parks, convalescent hospitals, and shopping centers. One of the benefits of bluegrass music is that it is possible to play without the use of a sound system, allowing you to be far more mobile than bands with electric instruments. You could sing Christ-exalting songs, speak a word for Him between songs, and distribute gospel literature to those that stopped to hear you. 

Well, hopefully that will give you something to think and pray over.  Truly, if Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.  He is worthy of all of our worship, service, and labor.  Let’s dedicate our musical ability, our time, our energy, and our lives as a sacrifice of praise to Him!