Oh Be Careful Little Ears

Photo: Morgefile

Have you ever been in your church during praise and worship and just asked yourself, "Why are we really singing this song?" 

One day after church while I was still in school, some friends and I were together after church service and the conversation turned towards contemporary worship music. My church that I attended at that time, in particular, plays a LOT of contemporary Christian music, which about 85% of the time I actually don't mind. On a given Sunday for worship, my church played contemporary Christian music, with the occasional popular hymn of that time. I guess that I really didn't mind this until this conversation with my friends: most of the people in church, which are mostly college students, aren't singing, and if they are singing, they really aren't paying any attention to the words they're actually saying.

This is very troublesome to me. I love the fact that young people like myself are willing to being open to God working in them; however, I do feel that somewhere along the way something has been lost in our worship experience. Personally, I know that growing up I associated praise and worship to only being in church, but as I've grown spiritually, I've come to see how worship is far more than I could ever imagine. So often when I was younger (and even at times now) I've associated praise and worship with my own experience and what I gained from it- if some of my (or our) favorite worship songs are sung, then we say that the praise and worship for that Sunday was great. However, in those times, do we actually think of how the songs being sung are preparing our hearts for the Gospel message that will be delivered?

That is one of the frustrations that was shared among my friends, and as expected, sides began to form, either in support of contemporary Christian music or going WAY back to traditional hymns. In my opinion, it doesn't (to some degree) matter which style is better, although I do have my personal preference of liking more hymns. I think that one of the issues associated with this situation has to deal with our hearts as we enter into church for worship. To be honest with you, I've had hard mornings and have gone to church only for the worship music to make me feel even worse than I started. 

Preparing our hearts for worship doesn't just begin with the worship songs before the message is given. It begins with a lifestyle that is aligned and connected with God and a heart that is open to His will. 

The reason why we should be careful with what we hear - not just with music, even though that's what I'm focusing on here - is because what goes into us directly reflects what will come out of us. Not only does it affect our speech, but it trickles down to our conduct to others and does ultimately effect our doctrine and theology. It's important to be careful what we listen to, not to make ourselves look better for others, but because we love God. Let our desire to serve God and His people fill our hearts with gladness so that we may abandon all things that aren't pleasing to Him.

SDG