LISTENING TO MUSIC FOR GOD’S GLORY

Written by W.N. Vincent

If you walk into a room full of young people and ask “How many of you love listening to music?” I can bet you that over 80% will raise their hands up.

Music cuts across various age groups and era and has proven to be such a powerful gift given to us by God. The type of music you listen to per time depends on the state of your heart. Some say that there is a piece of music made for each emotion you feel.

But does the fact that Music is a gift from God mean that the only kind of songs He wants us to listen to is ‘worship’ songs? If not, what other songs can we listen to as Christians and not displease Him whom we seek to please?

Meditating upon the lyrics of whatever song or artiste we choose to listen to is unavoidable. Whether we do it actively or passively.

Dr. Bob Kauflin in his teaching ‘Listening to Music for God’s Glory’ emphasizes that, listening to music without discernment and godly intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world.

As music can be used to communicate Sin, it can also be used to feed sin. With music, the deceptive voices of the world can sound very appealing. Music can make lies sound like they are true, and music can make evil things sound like they are good. We get into trouble when we do not think about the kind of music we listen to.

Bob further gives six (6) handles to help us discern if music is a gift in our lives as Christians or a Trojan Horse. He also outlines how we can listen to music for God’s glory, of which I’ll quickly highlight two:

1. Content. Philp 4:8

Every kind and style of music is not immune to ungodly content. Be it Jazz, Pop, etc. It will interest you to know that the content of music does not only include the lyrics being sung, but also the lyrics not being sung! Some OK songs which do not consist of some profane words in its lyrics might just be okay, yeah? But something that looks so harmless might actually destroy you, especially when the music you listen to subtly idolizes the very sins that put Jesus on the cross.

These sins may not be expressed in words but in images.

The story of the Trojan Horse is one that illustrates how a gift which is perceived as totally harmless can be very destructive to us; for this reason, discernment is key.

2. Association. Prov 22:3

Music does not exist in a vacuum; it is connected to other things. Music cannot be touched, held or seen, it tends to connect itself with things beyond itself like friends, fashion, ideas, etc.

Have you ever developed a fondness for a song just because a friend of yours played it often? Many times we think it won’t hurt us because it hasn’t hurt us YET.

For example, Bob terms the act of patterning one’s dress style to that of the artist being listened to as ‘fashion slavery’.

Many times we begin to exhibit certain characters and defend certain opinions that were gotten from songs we heard.

We have to think about the music we listen to, be aware of how much time we spend listening to music, and even know when to turn the music off!

No music, however creative or awesome can rival the glory of Jesus. All music was created to direct our attention to the Savior sent to die in our place as our substitute; who then ascended to His Father’s throne and right now, intercedes for us. If we must listen to music the way God intended for us to listen to it, we must acknowledge that it’s not ours and we must pay more attention to what we listen to beyond just listening, so we can use it for his glory.

You can get the complete audio clip to this message via this link.

Remain Blessed.

Who is Bob Kauflin?