Staying off the exit ramps- part 1

          Many Bible colleges and Christian Universities do an excellent job of preparing graduates for entering the Lord’s work as ministers of music and music educators.  However, it seems that  young Christian musicians are not always well prepared to resist taking what I call “exit ramps” after entering the Lord's work.  It is one thing to enter the Lord’s work but it is another to stay in the ministry when the going gets tough.  It is amazing to me that so many young Christian musicians who graduate from college with a clear sense of knowing God’s will for their life, so soon come to the conclusion that God has changed His mind. 

          The enemy of our soul doesn’t care so much how  well we begin our music ministry journey if he can get us to quickly take an exit ramp either to the left or to the right. When Satan’s fiery darts begin to head our direction it suddenly seems logical to get off the “highway” or at least head for the nearest exit ramp.
       Heading toward the exit ramp will set up the probability of one being hurt.  When a musician's mind is not on serving God but rather on getting off the road, he or she will often make mistakes.  When we make errors of judgment, we receive criticism.  When we receive  criticism we often get hurt emotionally and spiritually. These “hurts” will not  always come from the world but rather from other Christians.  Nothing has more potential to cause a young (or older) Christian to head for the exit ramp than to be hurt by another Christian.

          Surprisingly, one of the first exit ramps is the ramp of theology.  After an offense occurs, sometimes young Christians erroneously come to the conclusion that  their own theological beliefs must be faulty.  Anyone who takes his or her eyes off the Savior will become  vulnerable to Satan’s suggestions that "no one is really right" or "no one could do this to me and  be a Christian", so "maybe there isn't anything to being a Christian".

          A second exit ramp is materialism.  There is no doubt about it, Christian ministry doesn’t pay well.  Anyone who compares salaries and benefits of the corporate world to those of Christian workers will come to the conclusion that ministry does not pay well. However, it is generally agreed by experts that those whose careers allows them to invest their lives in others are by far the most fulfilled.

          A third exit ramp is the “no one is right” syndrome.  These Christian workers “sit in the seat of the scornful” and they do not seem to “delight in the law of the Lord” (see Psalm 1).  Rather, they seem to take exits to the right and the left.  Sometimes these Christians develop a “hobby horse" in some area of Christian living to the exclusion of a host of other precepts taught in the Bible.

After over 40 years of Bible college teaching, I am convinced that Christian work does pay.  It pays in many ways.  God has always taken care of me spiritually and financially, as well as giving me a wonderful wife and family. If I had it all to do over, I would be a Christian music educator again.  I have no regrets about my decision to become a Bible college music teacher. I thank God that by His mercy I have been able to stay off the exit ramps.