Matthew
6:1-4 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not
sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth
in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
You will probably be surprised when I
admit that this passage of scripture is not really about music but rather a
Christian’s benevolence or good deeds toward others. However, I like to think of a chief musician’s
musical ministry as what I call “musical alms”. Sacred musicing, according to
Ephesians 5:19, is supposed to be done for two reasons: first, the musician
loves others so he or she sings and plays “to one another” and second, the
musician loves god so he or she musics “unto God”.
So, may I suggest that the Christian
musician that does his or her musical alms for self actualization i.e.
figuratively the musician sounds the
trumpet so everyone will be aware of how talented he or she is, is not musicing
for the right reasons. It is one thing
to do the right thing, but it is another to do it the right way. It is my belief that God is more interested
in musical offerings that exude from a perfect heart than perfect musical
performances from a heart full of offenses toward Him... God does not only accept the best musical
offerings, but rather he only accepts our best musical offering.
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