Landing the plane....

I've been challenged to think about some things that have been rumbling around in my spirit for a few years. I hope you'll allow me to share my thoughts. Since a few people were offering opinions regarding what is appropriate for listening where music is concerned, I thought I'd jump into the fray.

So, is music selection a heaven or hell issue? Maybe, maybe not. But I believe it can affect things that are. II Corinthians 4:7 (NLT) states:

"But this precious treasure -this light and power that now shines, held in perishable containers, that is in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own."

Rev. Tim Dugas, Gateway College president, challened me to this thought. If we have a precious treasure, whether a person or an object, we guard it carefully - we do not take any risks with it's safekeeping.

Psalm 19:14 (NKJV) states:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

Perhaps like nothing else, music can affect the total person. I cannot buy the arguments that it can be compartmentalized to no affect on the spiritual man. Nor do I believe we should have to stretch the meaning of the lyrics in order to justify our right to listen. All of life is worship (thank you Nate Binion). If we have to stretch to justify, then maybe that should be a big red flag telling us to leave it alone! The "meditation of the heart" is perhaps the place we can be the most easily swayed in our convictions.

How easy it is to forget or grow passive about the fact that God is holy!! And he commands us to be holy. It's not an option. A footnote in the Nelson study Bible cought my eye: "Holy implies sacredness, being consecrated to God, or being worthy of God. To be holy is to be free from anything that would offend God." I Peter 2:9-10 refers to us as a "holy nation", a people set apart for God's service and pleasure! Another Nelson reference: "Holy living should be our goal not merely because God commands it, but also because it befits our true identity."

I believe you can argue any point, any "line in the sand" until there is no line at all. Is music choice a heaven/hell issue? I believe the issue here is submission - submission to the Word and its call for holiness. There are no issues when it comes to safeguarding a soul, whether our own or those who have been placed in our care. It's time to "land the plane", to take seriously an issue that has a greater affect than we realize or want to admit, and to draw some lines.

Let me conclude with the passage that provides the clearest direction for me:

"Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Psalm 24:3-5 NKJV