Are You Helping Anyone?

Galatians 6:1-5 (NASB95)
1) Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
2) Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
3) For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4) But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.
5) For each one will bear his own load.

My Problem is My Problem
I’ve tried so many self-improvement methods I can’t see straight. Weight management, speed reading, vocabulary tutorials, books and CDs on debt-free living, business endeavors, real estate ventures, violin lessons, organ lessons, horn lessons, accordion lessons (Ohhh, yes), karate, cooking shows, handyman skills, devotional books…shall I go on? The reason you’re laughing is not because I’m pathetic, but because you can relate to me in at least three of these same areas, right? What’s your latest kick?

My Problem Is Your Problem
It occurred to me the other day that many of us who are so studiously involved in self-help are missing the proverbial boat. In an effort to get our act together we are becoming career students. Consider the fact that there are others who need someone to encourage them with a godly example. There was a day when I needed someone who had lost the weight and kept it off. There needs to be someone who knows what it is to depend on God’s Word on a daily basis. We need people who KNOW experientially the power of prayer. At some point the real “Mature Christian” needs to shift his weight in his chair and stand to his feet. We can’t all be the one "caught in any trespass". Some of us need to be the “you who are spiritual”. Are you ready to help somebody yet?

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I feel like I’m between a Rock and a hard place. I don’t believe that Rock music honors the Lord and I am amazed at the creative ways many Christians come up with to avoid taking a stand. Though you can always find churches and Bible Colleges that push more conservative standards in music I often can’t handle the bologna that comes with the package.

I am becoming convinced that the artificial stimulant of a driving Rock beat has a desensitizing effect on the human mind. I suppose I am suggesting that it is something like the effect of drugs or alcohol on the mind, only subtler. I believe rock music is having a watering down effect on our churches. This drug-like effect explains to me why so many have to listen to this form of music so much of the time. I love music, but I don’t have to listen to it all the time. My theory, which compares Rock music to a drug, would also explain why popular Christian music is becoming more and more extreme. Think about it.

Now, I don’t sense a need to get too technical or abstract about it. If it has a Rock beat I don’t use it. That’s not so hard. My children already have it all figured out.

One day I played the song, “It took a Miracle” for an offertory at a church in Newark, Ohio. The pastor graciously asked me to play on short notice as I was a guest and he knew and appreciated my grandpa. After the service a visiting guest musician suggested that my version of the song reminded them of their life before they came to Christ. They seemed to feel I used too many nine chords and made it sound like a piano bar. I told them I was saved when I was three and I’ve never been to a bar. I really doubt that my offertory was a stumbling block to them. They are still professional Christian musicians serving the Lord. Can I just say…that subjective stuff is not what I’m talking about here?

I did a search on the Internet for a Christian camp or conference where I could take my family and not become wearied of Rock music in Jesus’ name. Though I came up with some interesting things I noticed that most of the links were associated with churches that have gone to seed with a new, unorthodox view of the King James Bible. Once more, that’s not what I’m after either.

And another thing. Some who wish to see a return to Christ-honoring music in our churches today have been too hard on contemporary Christian artists and ended up making “us” look bad. I can recognize that God has done a work in the life of many CCM artists today. I’m glad for them. I’m confident that many of them have the real thing. That doesn’t shake my theory. I don’t attempt to explain why they hold to their views. You see, I actually believe God uses Christian Rock…grudgingly. I can only assume it lacks God’s full blessing. After all, many Bible-preaching churches are giving Him nothing else to work with. I believe the way God uses Christian Rock is the same way He used Moses to give the Children of Israel water when Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock. God is sovereign and He will still take care of His people. Just because something appears to work doesn’t make it the right or the best thing to do.

A few years ago I started to catch on that since I had already received Christ, Christian choices were no longer really about right and wrong, but discerning between good, better and best. The question I keep asking myself is this. “Is this really the best we can do?”

I’m going to continue reevaluating my music for the best standards I can hold, doing my best to honor God with the ability He has given me. By God’s grace I hope to avoid trying to out-conservative the “Jones’s”. I resist such high standards that seem to imply that the average musician lacks the skill to glorify God. Where is the middle ground?