Have We Lost the Battle for Christian Music?

Have We Lost the Battle for Christian Music?

Our God made a wonderful promise in Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”  Jesus made the same promise when He declared in the Gospel of St. Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”  Sometimes I need to read these Old and New Testament proofs after I have had conversations with my colleagues.  The other day one of my longtime musician friends made the statement “I think we have lost the battle on that one.”  His statement came as a result of my conservative stand on a particular aspect of how we should music unto God. 

            Although he did not mean to depress me, I went away from that conversation about music with a heavy heart. Since then I have pondered for days on the question of whether or not we are pressing musical issues that are not really relevant in this century.  I have pondered over whether or not I am the last “musical boy scout”.  I keep quoting Scriptures on music from the Bible and studying what lexicographers and trusted Bible writers have had to say about the meaning of these passages of God’s Word.  Is all this study “much ado about nothing”?

            This morning I got up early, made some coffee and picked up a book and read these words, “The only reason the Bible can be relevant today, as well as at all other times, is that it is true.  It claims within itself to come from an all-knowing all powerful, persona and only existing God.” The Best of Josh McDowell A Ready Reference by Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson p. 23.  My heart was instantly blessed and I headed to my lap-top to tell you Christian musicians that I believe.  First, I believe because I trust God’s Word to be “true truth” yesterday, today and forever.  Second, I believe because 2Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

            So, I am blessed in my human spirit because the Holy Spirit has witnessed to me again this morning that God’s Word is true and relevant in this century.  Third, I believe because Christian musicians have not “lost the music battle:, because regardless of how many people do not believe what the Bible teaches us about music, I believe that just as YHVH reminded Jehoshaphat  in 2Ch 20:15 “… the battle is not yours, but God's.”  My problem in the past few days has been that I temporarily forgot that the battle for Christian music is not my battle but rather it is the LORD’S battle.  I am reminded this morning that He is saying to me what he said to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:3 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”