Being a Christian-based music review site, you would think that you would never get this question. The fact remains though, that this is the most commonly asked question of our ministry and our goal as such.
"Is the message of the music important? Why do you hold to your 'message-first' point of view?"
The answer to that question comes in a few different ways. Number one, God's Word says that we're to glorify Him in all we do. We're to pursue Him, acknowledge His perfect ways and allow Him to guide our path in life (Proverbs 3:5-6). If we are to acknowledge God's ways and to honor and glorify Him in everything we do, music is certainly not excluded in that list.
In that question lies another.
“Do you have to use God or Jesus' name in a song in order for it to minister, honor or glorify God and/or Christ?”
The answer to that question is no. It's the context of the message that's taken into effect of whether or not the story has to do with your life as a Christian, God's involvement and influence as such and personal testimony placed within the mix. It's those stories often mixed in with music that impact people the most. In Biblical reference, the book from the Bible, Song of Solomon didn’t mention God’s name at all. But after reading it, there is no confusion as to who Solomon was writing about. It boils down to the context of which the piece is written about that makes the difference.
On the other side, say for example if someone who is lost or unsaved is listening to it and can't discern the difference, maybe the artists' message speaks on something that could be construed in many different ways. Let me first say, God is very clear in His words. His words are not confusing and are very to the point. But yet another question arises:
"If we are too preachy or too blatant in our message, won't we offend people?"
In most circumstances the truth is not something most people like to hear, especially if they are in the wrong. When the Lord sent Jesus to walk among us and teach us His ways, the truth was often a hard one to accept. In respect to everyone reading this, Jesus was not worried about offending people. He had a way of showing God's love, mercy and ways, most often in ways that the people could understand. These parables, or example stories were used as an example to shed light on what point He was trying to make . This didn't always sit well with people, hence the reason why Christ was hated and despised by many. This doesn’t change for followers of Christ today either. Your stand for Jesus Christ will be hated and despised by many, but remember, it was Christ who endeared that first (John 15:18). I think music often suffers because artists may be too afraid to write more Biblically relevant material or be ‘more to the point’ with their lyrics. It’s sad to say, but a lot of lyrics are ‘watered-down’ just to avoid offending someone. This seems to especially relevant in the church today. Even Christians are becoming less and less critical about the overall spiritual content of music. Is it to avoid conviction? Or is it we have become so complacent with meaningless lyrical content that we don’t even notice now? Songs don’t need to preach a sermon, but there should be something more to it then the cliché content that is bombarding Christian music today.
Now back to our music reviews. We want to lead people to music that honors God, which in turn glorifies Christ. Yes, it's definitely okay to entertain with music, but we here at CMR agree that the music should mean a lot more. It should teach you, minister to you, and uplift you while entertaining you. As Christians we should be wary of what entertains us. That's our whole approach to our ministry. And you might notice that we're not a ministry out there bashing artists who we don't feel glorify God with their music or ministry. We don't feel it's our place to do so. There is enough negativity in the world today and to bash those we don't agree with will only cause further divide within the church. We would rather focus on the positive aspects of music, highlighting artists who fit into this.
I got this email from an angry visitor once, saying ... "You guys live in a box and don't see the outside world, the chaos, all of the negativeness. Your Christianity lives within the bubble, only wanting to see the 'peaches and cream' life within"
So not true. I personally spent 22 years in the world before giving my life to Christ. I lived a sexually promiscuous lifestyle as a teen, and even being in held in a juvenile detention center for stealing. Short of drugs and alcohol, I put a capital 'H' in the word heathen. I don’t need to know all the negativity of this world to know that my focus needed to be more focused on Jesus than anything else. I lived that live for over two decades. It was coming to saving knowledge of Christ that changed my life forever. I realize the worlds state around me, but without the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to spread out there, I would feel empty and useless. It's the joy in sharing Christ with others through music that excites me most! Seeing someone come to Christ is the most exciting thing I could see and knowing that I somehow had a hand in leading them there makes me feel that I have accomplished what God has set me (and this ministry) out to do.
But praise God, we will continue to do what we're called to do! And like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we won't always be popular for the stand we take. So next time someone asks you the question, “Does message matter?”, you should say yes! It should mean more than anything! Like I have said in the past, when we stand before Christ in judgment, He's not going to care if we liked a certain band's music. He's going to care about one thing. Whether or not you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior. In the end, that's all that really matters. Music is finite. But eternity is forever.
We hope and pray that the work we do in CMR truly honors God, and equally important to us is that the content that you find on our site uplifts, ministers or encourages you in some way or another. We hope that the artists' music that we lead you to does all of this and more. May God bless each person reading this right now!
Your brother in Christ,
Jay Heilman
Founder and Webmaster
ChristianMusicReview.org
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