Hypocrites Identified

               The biggest hypocrites in the world….Christians, to argue that point means you just simply haven’t set back and observed others (or even yourself) who claim to be Christians. We do it daily by saying one thing, but doing another. We say do good, but yet do evil…we say to only surround yourself with good things, but yet keep going back to that thing or things that we know deep down are wrong. Music is a facet of one’s life that can be a distinctive feature that makes us unique. Almost every single person we’ll come across in our life will have a musical preference and it in some ways assists our image we attach to them. What does your music say about you?

                Let me preface this by being very honest and blunt…up until last week I couldn’t answer  100% yes (and to be honest I'm still working towards that!) to the question I’m about to ask you. If a stranger came and checked out your iTunes, media player or CD collection (if you still do that) could they tell you’re a Christian? I mean he or she might find some Christian music, but would it be overlooked as they saw the rest of your collection? I had a friend in college who was anything but a Christian (many an awesome conversation was had) and he was shocked the day he learned Thousand Foot Krutch was most definitely a Christian Rock band…so I ask again does your collection truly show what you believe?  Now I’m not saying you have to go in and delete everything that doesn’t come up when you search “Jesus”… I simply want you to consider re-evaluating what you listen to. It was a hard thing for me, as I sat going through my iTunes truly asking myself whether this song should be there or not. A lot of childhood favorites or big hits made me think oh if I just leave this one…well that one turned into 2,4,10 and so on very quickly and I went about it all over again. I’ll be 100% honest I still have some classic rock songs (likes of Journey and Kansas) but I was very careful to keep songs that don’t seem to have any undertones that counter what I believe. I’ll also state without really thinking twice, a lot of country music you’ll be fine to keep…but be careful because even it has succumbed at times to the secular way of life (it is a secular industry when it boils down to it still).

                Who cares what type of music I listen to?! Well…no one…everyone…or possibly some people in your life who you have the chance to witness to. Witness through music?! Yup, that’s right, just by listening to music that corresponds with your beliefs are going to leave no doubt in people’s minds as to what you believe. If you believe there is a God, why would your music point anywhere else? Yes, sometimes we listen to music just for fun and good times but even then there songs that have no ill-natured lyrics and meanings behind them…i.e. Lil Wayne’s next hit more than likely won’t fall in this category. So I must ask you, does your music agree or disagree with what you believe? If you answered no…perhaps your beliefs need re-evaluated before your music does.

                Now I am not saying that Christian music will always “sound” Christian…because no music sounds Christian as that’s an opinion (some feel anything with drums is evil…others guitars). Only the lyrics and meanings of the songs can separate between Christian and not…and yes it is one of those not between or “kinda” (this gray area is a topic I hope to blog about soon). An example of this is Christian Rap or even Rock…to someone unfamiliar with the band or artist they may just hear loud music and assume there is no way God is being praised through the words, which presents you with a great ministry opportunity that doesn’t seem nearly as intimidating as others. I don’t know how many times I’ve had non-believers ask me, “Who sings this?” simply because they liked the sound and it gave me the perfect opportunity to let God plant a seed. An example of this happened fairly recently with my cousin. She’d been dating this guy for awhile now and they decided to come to a concert I was promoting at our church with the main act being Remedy Drive. Her boyfriend had never thought Christian music could be so awesome live and sound good! Needless to say a seed was planted that night and he now owns their CD and even the opening band’s as well (Lightswitch). Praise God, that the stereotype that Christian music just isn’t good was broken for yet another person…are you letting God work through you to do the same for others? When you are driving friends around are you the type that switches what your listening to what you think they’ll approve or like, simply hoping to avoid any uncomfortable discussions?

                Honestly, I know if your anything like me  your mind will try any way to justify why you listen to the music you do…but I counter that now with if you have to justify it-it probably means it shouldn’t be in my collection. Just something for you to chew on this week….one love, one way, one God.

Your brother,

TYNI

"I am a city light"