Your Vocation and Calling

Your Vocation and Calling 

            Ephesians 4:1 states, I therefore a prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation where with ye are called.”  In this verse Paul is admonishing the Ephesian Christians to live a life that is consistent with a Christian profession.  Did you ever wonder why he was admonishing Christians to act like Christians?  Not only was it necessary to admonish them to be what they professed, but is necessary for Christian musicians today to check up on the way they act.  When you give a slight correction to the tenors because they are singing under pitch or when you inform the sopranos that they are singing too loudly, do you do so with gentleness? 

       We as Christian musicians, need to stop our hurried pace long enough to check up on whether our musicing and musical leadership is being carried out in a spirit of Christian kindness and humility.  When it comes to the musicians that a musician leads, it is not “big I and little you”.

       Verse three of the fourth chapter of Ephesians is an admonishment Christians to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (NIV).  We need to make sure that we are not more concerned with musical precision than with Christ’s presence.  Ouch!  We should never hide a disgruntled attitude under the disguise of being a musician who is a perfectionist and is working with mediocre musicians. 

       We need to remember that a perfect heart is much more important than a perfect performance.   With this said, I do believe that God expects the best musical offering that we are able to give Him.  However, with that in mind, I still believe that how a Christian musician acts in rehearsal and in performance is more important than perfection of performance.