Hello friends, welcome to In Bolden. I'm Chris Shatter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Today is day 13 of 30 Days of Giving Glory to God on the In Bolden Podcast. And we start with 1st Chronicles 16, 10.
Glorious is holy name, with the hearts of those who seek the Lord, rejoice. And my prayer today is, Holy God, when I seek to worship you through song today, help me to distinguish between music that elevates you rather than me. I want to lift up my voice in celebration of you, your glory and majesty and power, amen. About a year ago, my husband and I were attending a church that had an excellent teaching pastor.
However, for various reasons, we decided to keep looking for a church that fit more of our needs. We had become friends with the pastor, so I felt the need to talk with him about why this church just didn't seem like the right place to call home. Way, way down the list was music. It wasn't a game changer, but I included it just for feedback.
My comment was that I was sure, because I've heard some before. There was music to be sung written after the 1800s. He agreed and replied, yes, but I don't like the quote, Jesus is my boyfriend music either. Music has played a role in the world's religions for all time, whether hum, chanted, drummed, or played in an arena like a rock band.
But no other religion finds itself with a songbook as large, widespread, and popular as Christianity. We have songs to celebrate the life of Jesus, to thank the Lord for rescuing us, songs to remind us of the pain Jesus suffered for us, songs to inspire us to trust in the Lord, and songs to glorify God. And it's important to pay attention to when we fall into the trap of honoring the work we do rather than the work God does. We also don't want to reduce Jesus to our buddy, or as the pastor said, our boyfriend.
Psalm 105 2 says, sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wondrous works. And this got me thinking about the different types of Christian music and when we should be singing ones that are written solely for the purpose of glorifying God. Now, some of you might be thinking, if it's Christian music, doesn't it all do that? If that's your initial thought, I'd like to challenge you to listen to the words of the favorite songs you might hear on the radio, or maybe even in your church.
Are the lyrics really about you or about God's glory, holiness, power, and authority? I looked up the words to a very popular song by Phil Wickham called, I Found You, and you might be interested to know in just two verses that the words I or my is repeated 16 times. So, who are we really singing about here? This song is a perfect example to the world, how we are changed by our faith, but it is not really a song glorifying God.
When my youngest was a teenager, she thought it was funny when she would play a song in the car that had cuss words in it. She wanted to see my reaction. She didn't think a few bad words here and there were important. It's just a song she once said.
But we are challenged as Christians to watch everything that leaves our mouths, even songs. What we have running on repeat in our heads reflects where our heart lies. When we come into worship, are we singing about ourselves or about our Savior? When I selected the music for my wedding, I took care in the messages I wanted to send to my guests about this beautiful union.
And today, when I think of a song to sing glorifying God, I want to make sure I take the same care to focus on Him, not me. Have a wonderful day. I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Unbolden Podcast. Be sure to follow along so you don't miss any episode.
And check out my blog at embolden.net.