Worship or Performance?

“Sing and Make Music in Your Heart To The Lord!”

(Ephesians 5:19)

There is something about music that has a way of capturing our emotions that words could never do.
I can still remember as a young child hearing my favorite song being played on the radio. It stirred my heart and I felt joy hearing those powerful refrains in the chorus. Music can evoke a wide range of emotions and, at times, usher us into the very throne room of heaven. Hans Christian Andersen once said, “Where words fail, music speaks.” As a life-long musician I know those words to be especially true.

Before King David became king of Israel, he was a shepherd boy. The role of a shepherd was not a desired role. It was often assigned to the youngest child or hired out to a lowly servant. No one wanted that job and often the one serving in that position would miss important religious feasts and celebrations because they would have been considered ceremonially unclean. Still, David was a shepherd and while he watched the family flocks he composed songs to the Lord. Even in his lowly state, David was content in his role and sought to sing heart-felt melodies to God. David is said to have composed 75 of the 150 Psalms that we now have in our bibles. In Psalm 27 David declares “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?“ Later on in the same Psalm he says that despite the difficulties of life and enemies surrounding him, he would continue to “sing and make music in his heart to the Lord.”

Life can often be very difficult. Sometimes we lack resources and at other times it seems as if the whole world is against us. But we, like the Apostle Paul, can declare “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Perhaps like David, we can lift our voices and our instruments to the Almighty despite the obstacles and challenges we face in life. We are called as Christians to declare the Good News of Jesus in every corner of the world. But how do we begin such a monumental task? First we pray and seek God with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. Then, as we allow His presence to fill and transform us – we can lift our voices and joyfully praise Him by singing and making music to the Lord Almighty.

Dear musician, as you sing or play every note – allow the love of God to flow through you. If you don’t approach music as a conduit of worship to God, it can become a performance that draws the spectacle on you instead of drawing others to the worship of our Father in Heaven.

Performance Or Worship?
I have played in some worship bands that were very talented. They exuded confidence and could hit every note with precision and masterful grace. Some of these worship ministry teams carefully planned worshipful and meaningful sets that invited others into sacred spaces of praise to God, while other teams selected pieces that they were comfortable with and often times displayed their enormous talent but the songs were performance-driven and were not singable by the congregation.

Be mindful of the trap of performance over worship. Performance can lead to pride and arrogance while worship keeps us centered on the Author of our talent and the notes we sing. Approach worship ministry from a place of humility and honor and keep the discipline of prayer as you select pieces that will lead others into the presence of God.

Something more to ponder today.