When I read this article, my heart broke. For a long time I've been trapped in a "religious mindset"...not even knowing it. I say this with gentleness, respect, and sincerity. The Lord has been breaking through to my heart showing me where I'm so flawed, and I have a LONG way to go, because I haven't arrived. My righteousness is as filthy rags.
When I was a pre teen I gave my life to Jesus. I loved Him more than anything (and still do)...it was pure. I remember listening to Christian Rock music at such a young age and I praised Jesus with ALL of my heart. Those were the days I was zealous, sharing the Gospel with everyone I knew, it was all so innocent because I came to Jesus as a child and I DIDN'T KNOW anything different....all I knew is that the Rock music bands I listened to were praising Jesus....Petra, Resurrection Band, Daniel Band, Keith Green, Jerusalem, etc....and it made me want to love Jesus and do His will ALL the more.
Something happened later in life that made me judgmental. I began to hear how bad it was to listen to these groups, and it made me second guess everything I did. In wasn't until recently that God had to tear down this pride by allowing the most devastating circumstances to shake my life awake. It was then that the love of Christ broke through that wall....and I became like that child again.
Jesus told us not to judge the outward appearance. He said you will know that these are my disciples because of their love one for another....not the worlds love, but His love.
Like our sister Lisa said, we shouldn't be so quick to judge. Im not a fan of many types of music, including club, rock, etc, but if I see Jesus being lifted up, people on fire for Him sharing the Gospel, and good fruit coming from that...who am I to judge them or way they are coming to Christ??? The way I came to Jesus as a child was no different, even though, this is a different generation. I didn't even know many believers looked at it as devil music as a child. It really confused me, and I learned to be legalistic, and later fell into sin.
To the pure in heart, all things are pure. Im not at all saying Jesus condones sin by any means or that any of us should ever compromise the convictions placed upon us by the precious Holy Spirit....no, no, no. Im learning that music in itself is not a sin, except for angry or sensual sounding music, no matter how much I don't like it....it's what is done with that music that defiles it. Jesus said, WHATEVER you DO, do it as unto the Lord.
The Lord uses foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Only Jesus can see the hearts of people. We are called to look at the fruit. God forgive me if I ever cause one of these little ones to stumble because I was wise in my own opinion.
1 Corinthians 13 says so much to us. We can do all of these things, but if we don't have love, it profits nothing. Whoever is forgiven much, loves much.
Yes, these days are evil and getting worse. Theres a lot of lost, hungry souls out there. As Paul said, I will become all things to all men that I may reach more but without sinning. Just something to think about....
God bless you all
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