We all fight our own demons. Whether they're thoughts of not being good enough, not pleasing the audience, or messing up your music, our demons seem to breathe down our necks while stepping on that stage to worship. Say the band pulls off a flawless performance, even nails every song, every time, week after week. Does it even matter? In part 1 of Worship Matters, Bob Kauflin tells us how to beat these demons, using our hearts, minds, hands, and the lives we choose to lead. With our hearts, we often make the mistake of putting material things before God. Idolatry may seem like a faraway concept, but we are all guilty of it at some point. Idols that we cannot see, like power, popularity, and fame, are the most powerful of them all. Putting these things before God can hurt us. The gospel can set us free. With our minds, we must read the bible and study the word in order for us to truly understand God. You cannot love something you don't know. Theology is not easy, however; it requires diligent hard work. If we have that love for God and put Him first before everything, the motivation to read and get to know Him will come naturally. With our hands, we must develop our skill in music, with technique, theory, and taste. Devoting time to practice our instruments is key to developing our skill. Skill matters to God, so it should also matter to us. If I practice enough, instead of focusing on keeping the beat, I can focus on just worshipping and being with God. When my focus is on actual worship, it will show on my face. The crowd is more likely to follow a band that is vibing with God rather than a band focusing on their chords. Also, God does not solely care about skill. He is listening to our hearts, not just the songs we perform. We are not performing to seek praise from an audience; we are performing for Him. With our lives, we must set an example. We are worship leaders, not just musicians. It is important to live for Him in every aspect of our lives - our conduct, speech, and love. All these things being said, if we follow Kauflin's words, we can worship much more effectively.
Worship and God's word are not separate entities. They are one. Every meeting should be characterized by the Spirit's presence and God's word. The spirit is what inspired God's word, so we should incorporate it into our worship. We can do this by treasuring, singing, reading, showing and praying God's word. When we treasure God's word, other people will know it. Lyrics matter more than the tunes, so we should understand the lyrics we are singing to convey the word more. Lastly we should obviously read it in order to show it and pray it. Being raised as Christians, it feels sometimes that reading the word has become a chore. When chapel speakers throw lines of verse on the screen and start reading it, I unfortunately feel my eyes glaze over, zoning out to the max. It really shouldn't be this way, and I know it. In order to be a true worship band, we should exude the Word too. Read it, pray it, sing it, and show it.
Comments
Post a Comment