The Art of Discovery

Kids are pretty incredible teachers.  It’s always amazing to me how often God uses these little ones to constantly remind me of what’s important, and even convict me of my sin.  (If you want to see what areas of your character you need to work on – spend a day w. a 3 year old!)

So this morning the kids and I took our dog on a walk, and our little girl, Kylie (pic below), found these PVC drain pipes that extend from the ground.  They were varying sizes, but mainly about the radius of a typical coffee can.  I guess in her mind they look like big water wells, because she decided to stand on top of them and yell “Hello!” down each one. (No clue where she learns this stuff).  She couldn’t believe that her voice echoed, and thought it was the coolest thing!  She was laughing and saying new words to hear the different sounds.  As her younger brother, Reed and I watched her do this for a few minutes, she looked up at us w. a huge smile on her face, turned around, walked a few feet, and found more drain pipes.  Thus the process repeated itself.  So for the rest of the walk, Kylie went to each “well” she could find to hear her voice echo.

I’m not going to try to make a big theological statement based on my three year old discovering the echo of her voice – but God uses events like these all the time in my life.  I often think about why Christ called us to be more like children (recall the scene in Mark chapter 10 when Christ said “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”)  I know the churchy answer to why we need to be more like children – “to trust God like a child would…” And I completely agree w. that.  But is there more to it than that?   All throughout Scripture, God calls us His children.  (Romans 8:15-17 is one my favorites) Thus, what attributes of children should play out in our lives?  What characteristics should I be modeling?

Here’s what I was thinking about this morning: Have I completely lost that child-like sense of wonder and awe?  Have I become completely numb to the simple things in life?

You would’ve thought Kylie had discovered a new planet.  Seriously.  She was more excited about her voice echoing than every gift from last Christmas combined.  (Now I know what to get her this year…)

There’s so many things in each of lives that should stop us in our tracks and result in us being utterly amazed.  But, unless we take the time to marvel in them, or re-discover them – we’ll take them for granted, or worse — forget they’re even there.

Grace & Peace,
Dc

Dear God, We Are Such Whiners…

Man, it’s a beautiful October day today.  Windows down, siting in my favorite chair in our house, enjoying the sunny 65º weather.  It’s a near perfect day.  In light of all of those facts, I was thinking about my recent attitude towards what constitutes “Fall” in Florida…

Fall is my favorite season.  Unfortunately I am living in the wrong state to fully enjoy that season.  I’m not complaining – just stating the facts.  However, I must admit that I catch myself whining about the weather a lot during the summer (which in Florida lasts half the year).  Since I grew up in the north, I prefer the cold over the hot, and I notice that I’m generally a happier person in the fall/winter months.   Therefore, a question I asked myself this morning: Should I allow my personal temperature preference to skew my outlook on life?  With all of the incredible blessings God has given me (amazing wife, healthy kids, great job, awesome friends, home to live in, the fact that I’m alive, and so on) – am I really choosing to complain about the weather?  Am I that selfish and ungrateful?

Most of the time: yes.

Now, I recognize that “the weather” is a silly example, and perhaps not that big of deal; and I wish I could say that’s exclusively what I complain about.  Unfortunately, it’s just not true.  With constantly being bombarded by advertisements that will “make my life better” I fall into the trap of being a complainer.  There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t catch myself thinking – “I really DO need this…” or “My life WOULD be better if I had this…”

As a follower of Christ – I believe that all good and perfect things come from God (James 1:17).  The most important gift is salvation that only comes through Christ (John 14:6).  So what implications come from my complaining?  What am I really expressing when I whine about what I don’t have?  The answer is discontentment with God.  It sounds harsh, but when I’m unhappy w. what God’s given me, I’m unhappy with HIM because He is the giver of all gifts.  How arrogant I can be! How spoiled I can be!  That I would not only question the Creator, but overlook what wonderful things He has done, and what incredible gifts He has given!

A HUGE ramification of being selfish, spoiled, complainers is that there is no room for generosity.  A defining quality of the life of a Christan is being generous.  Generous with our time, gifts, talents, possessions, and money.  Yet, we are so easily enticed to fall into the trap of wanting more (bigger, better, faster), rather than giving more.

A couple months ago, my buddy Zack sent me an awesome clip of a comedian talking about what a bunch of complainers we are.  I think it’s fits perfectly for this post:  (FYI – if you have kids around, he does say a four letter word, however it is bleeped out)

Is that not our generation!  My favorite part is the bit about the guy on the airplane who thinks “the world owes him something…”

A couple questions to think about:
1 – How often are you thankful for all that you have been given?
2 -What do you do with what you have been given?  Are you a generous person?
3 – Would your friends and those closest to you say that you’re a complainer? (If you don’t have any friends – that may be your answer)
4 – How much time do you spend thinking about and desiring things you don’t have?
5 – In this season of life, would you describe yourself as content?

A Bible verse my Dad used to quote to me all time was Philippians  2: 14 “Do everything without complaining or arguing,” - which I usually complained about when he would quote it to me.  But now I understand why he would constantly remind me of that verse.  He didn’t want me to grow up always whining about the circumstances of life, things that I didn’t have, or jobs that needed to be done.  If our generation is marked as being a bunch of whiners and complainers – then I say we stand out from the crowd and, by God’s grace, become grateful generous givers.

Grace & Peace,
Dc

How Important is “The News”?

I loathe most forms of popular media.  In fact, in 2009 I think it’s safe to say that in a lot of ways the media shapes our culture.  You could almost say that the media runs our culture.  One of the forms of media that I typically can’t stand on a national/global level is the news (and I use that term “news” loosely).  I do care a great deal for local news — but unfortunately, local news is too often overshadowed, and much harder to come by, because the national news is apparently much more important to my life.

Is it really?

A few good questions to start with:
1 – What is a healthy amount of information that I need to know pertaining to national and global issues?
2 – How much time and energy should I give to the aforementioned information?
3 – What actions will result because I now know this information?

In light of these questions, here’s my thoughts about the majority of media driven “news”: it’s like jr. high gossip…but for adults. It’s predominately opinions, rumors, and speculations accepted as facts, and at the core of every “breaking news” story each network is solely seeking ratings.  The news, for many of us, has become our escape from present reality; it has the potential to consume our attention, our energy, and certainly our time.  Our American culture has a perverse fascination w. things being terribly wrong in other peoples lives (think of any celebrities in the news in the passed 6 months?).  We’re fascinated w. sex scandals, drug overdoses, unexpected deathes, governmental downfalls, and the like.  It’s like we are so absolutely bored w. our own life that we need to live vicariously through these stories.  We need something ELSE to think about, someone ELSE to talk about, OTHER stories than our own to live in.

You ever stopped and thought — “How are these ‘breaking news’ stories beneficial to my life?”

I just Googled the words “breaking news” and here are some of the major headlines for today:
“Sheboygan teen accused of trying to eat marijuana”
“TLC’s ‘Jon & Kate’ is soon to be ‘Kate Plus Eight’”
“Teen Sued for Fake Facebook Profile”
“Obama On His Copenhagen Jaunt: Sleep, Land, Speak, Fly Back”
“Dan Rather’s Lawsuit Against CBS Is Dismissed”
“Police seek 3 more in teen’s beating death”
“Newborn Rhino finds human ‘Mom’”

And so on and so on….

So again, I’ll reference the 3 questions listed above: Is ANY of this information important to my life?  Perhaps it is for you — and if so, that’s fine as long as you’ve thought about and decided that for yourself — rather than simply absorbing everything “the news” throws at you.

I meet a lot of people who would be considered “news junkies” — it’s the first thing they watch in the morning, it’s the only thing they listen to in the car, they have it on at work, they watch it at home (the average american watching 8 hours of TV a day! That’s pathetic. That’ll be an entirely different post…), and they check their favorite news site before they go to bed.  Again – I’m NOT arguing that we shouldn’t have some intake of national and global news, but how much is too much?  And what do we DO with the information we are given?

This passed year I decided to turn off all forms of national news (I occasionally listen to our local news talk radio, and check our local tallahassee news website).  I literally didn’t listen to any kind of talk radio, watch any type of news on TV, or check any websites for news.  This went on for about six months, and you know what:  I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE I MISSED A THING.  In fact, that time was substitutued w. time w. my family, more time to work, more time to catch up on reading some great books, and most importantly – more time spent w. God.  Now, I must admit how hypocritical I really am because during this time I was still tempted to give in and turn on the news (on my computer — we don’t have cable), and find out the latest “gossip”, hear how terrible our economy is, listen to some celebrities opinions on Obama, and find out how many more kids Jon and Kate were having –that way I can talk about it to my friends, sound smart, and act like I know what’s “going on in the world”.

But I didn’t give in….

Until two weeks ago…

Two weeks ago I decided to finally break my fast from the news, and find out what it was I had been missing.  To my great delight the main headline, and I kid you not, was “Kayne West Steals the Show: Swift Upset”. Are you kidding me?  THIS IS BREAKING NEWS!!  Well, of course I had to click on the story to find out more…(I already admitted that I’m a hypocrite).  I’m sure you saw the video, so I won’t re-hash it, plus it’s way too stupid to re-tell.  That same day I heard several people talking about it at our offices, saw several tags on Facebook about it, and saw it all over the web.  Who really cares about these types of stories?  Sadly – I do.  Well, deep down I don’t, but when I get in the mindset of “anything goes” when pertaining to the news I get sucked right in.  When I’m not disciplined w. my time, attention, energy, etc.  I end up spending 20 minutes learning about another stupid celebrity doing something really stupid. How is this story beneficial to my life? If it’s purely entertainment — then let’s call it that.  Let’s stop calling it important, breaking news.

Hears my suggestion:  Decide what you’re going to allow into your life. Decide the amount of information you’re going to take in, the amount of time you’re going to spend, and the amount of energy you’re willing to give, because otherwise another Kayne West story will steal all of it… and you can never get that time back.

If you’re a Christian, here’s more specific suggestions:  Turn off the news for two weeks, and supplement that time w. reading the Gospels straight through, and listening to sermon podcasts.  (If you don’t know where to start w. podcasts, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I’ll get in touch w. you and hopefully point you in the right direction).

Bottom line: Paul writes in Phillipians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

What are you spending the majority of your time thinking about?

Grace & Peace,
Dc

Quite often, I love music too much.

I have certain friends that when we spend time together all we talk about is music.  This is not a conscious decision, it just comes out.  There have been several occasions where Lindsey and I have had friends over for dinner, and if one of my “music junkie” friends are apart of that group, its just a matter of time before the ball starts rolling and before you know it music consumes our conversations.

There have been seasons in my life where 90% of my conversations were about music (or food).  I love listening to music, recording it, performing it, studying it, discovering it, sharing it — (is anybody else that person who deliberately finds new music just so they can share it w. others?  You’re also the guy who has to be in charge of the iPod any time you’re in the car because there’s these new bands that will change everyone’s life when you share it w. them…then you realize that no one else in the car really cares…) 

Well – so what?  Is there anything wrong w. enjoying music to this degree?

First, here’s what Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:4-5
⁴For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

The answer is no — there is absolutely nothing wrong w. spending time, energy, resources, to enjoy music.  However, notice the crucial word in verse 4 – IF.  Paul is declaring that God created everything, which of course includes music.  And we’re not to reject the good things God has created, IF we recognize that He gave them to us.  You see, when we enjoy music, whether we realize it or not, we’re enjoying God the Father as well. (Before I continue, I’m not implying that there is no music that defiles or blasphemes God, and therefore should NOT be enjoyed.  But that is an entirely different discussion).  God, being the most lavish giver to His children, takes great joy in our joy. Another verse in 1 Timothy says this: “God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”  If I were to give a gift to my children, I wouldn’t expect them to throw it aside and say “No daddy – all we want is time w. YOU…”  I, like any normal father, would expect them to greatly enjoy the gift as much as possible.  However, it would become disheartening if my children completely forgot who gave them that gift, never thanked me, and never including me in the enjoyment process.

So, here’s the question that I have to ask myself: At what point am I putting music before God?

This is a HUGE temptation for me.  I’ve blogged this statement before:  I’m most tempted (typically) to put inherently good things before God.  My default is to idolize music — to have a deeper love for music than God.  Now I would never say that out loud. “I love music more than God!”  However, the time I devote to music, (thoughts, money, words, energy, etc) reflects my deeper love for music than for the Creator of music.  As always — it goes back to being a heart issue.

A couple of questions:
+ How often to I thank God for the gift of music?

+ How often do I connect w. God while enjoying music?  (If you go to church — 5 songs on Sunday is not enough. And I would argue that corporate musical worship, while very important, is only one route to connect w. God.)

+ Am I much more excited about connecting w. my favorite song writers, or the Creator?

+ What is God’s plan for the place of music in my life?

Perhaps some things to think about.  I’ll end w. this:  If music is an idol in your life, may you be reminded of the Father who gave it to us.  The God who created for us this universal, moving, experiential, beautiful gift.  How thankful we should be!

Grace & peace,

Dc

An Instrument of Grace

Romans 6:12-14

¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

How often do I genuinely think that God can use me as an instrument of grace?

Some quick thoughts…
Apart from God’s grace, my default is wickedness.  A discipline that I have tried to practice is to daily pray “God, I offer myself as Your instrument of grace.” Another great discipline is when you are getting ready to meet w. someone (or simply going to a social gathering) pray that God will use you as an instrument of grace.

How can you impart His grace on others today?

Beware of the “ME MONSTER”

One of my favorite comedians is Brian Regan.  A couple years ago for Father’s Day my wife, Lindsey, got me tickets to see him live (yeah — she’s pretty incredible) and it was the best comedy show I’d ever been to.  Beyond being silly, clean, and hilarious, every now and then he dives into some pretty insightful bits.  Below is a bit about the “Me Monster” that pretty much desribes our current culture to the T.

I love this bit for so many reasons!  “That ain’t nothing!…….Well, didn’t mean to waste everybody’s time…” Regan hits the bulls eye on multiple levels, but the one I’d like to pinpoint is his question: “What is it about the human condition that people get something out of that?” (referring to the behavior in which we have to constantly top/impress other people).  The answer to his question: PRIDE.  There’s no way around this one — we all are prideful people.  Some of us perhaps more prone to it than others, but we all fall prey to it if we aren’t away of it.

If I’m completely honest, I’m a prideful person.  I think what I have to say is typically more important than others, and unless I’m consistenly working on it, I’m the guy who’s waiting for other people’s lips to stop moving so I can “top” what they have to say.  As I’ve become more aware and observant of the dangers of pride, most people I meet are the same way.  Next time you are in a social setting, listen intently to people’s conversations.  In 5 minutes you’ll make two very simple observations: 1 – people love talking about themselves; 2 – people rarely ask questions directed at the other person. (If someone does ask a question, it’s typically to set themselves up to impress the other person).  Why is this?  Once again, if you’re not aware of it we’ll fall prey to pride.

A book that’s really blown me up in the area of pride is by C.J. Mahaney called “Humility: True Greatness”. I highly recommend this book.  (You can purchase it HERE). In one of his chapters, Mahaney talks about how utterly important our words are.  He points out that one of the ways to dismantle pride and become more humble is to use our words to encourage and build others up, rather than use our words to build ourselves up.  This seems like such a simple concept, yet not a well-practiced one!

Here’s what the apostle Paul writes in the letter to the church of Ephesus:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Eph. 4:29)

Something that Mahaney urges us — “On average, each of us speaks about twenty-five thousand words daily.  From God’s perspective, how many of your twenty-five thousand words each day could be characterized as unwholesome talk?” And to flip that coin, I’ll ask — how many of your words each day are used to build others up?  Here’s what convicted me enough to write a post about it: Paul is not SUGGESTING this! “…but ONLY what is helpful for building others up…” That difficult word in that statement is only.  Really? We can only speak words that serve others and build them up?

Some practical ways C.J. suggests we can consistently grow in humility is to enter each conversation asking “How can I best serve this person for the glory of God? To effectively encourage or edify a person I must know something about that individual, which comes through studying a person, asking questions, and carefully listening.  That’s what we’ll do if we’re trying to truly serve others with our words and not simply impress them.”

For those of us who are Chirst followers — this is what we’re commanded to do.  It’s not optional.  Can we please stop trying to impress people in every conversation?  Can we please stop trying to put all the attention on ourselves?

So, I’ll end w. this question:
How many of your twenty-five thousand words today have been used to build others up?

Turn the Noise Off.

You ever stop and think about how many things are shouting for your attention from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep?  It’s crazy to think about.  If we view our time as a percentage, it can become scary how much time we spend partaking in trivial things.

Recently I was praying and thinking about parts of my life that keep me from focusing on God, and I was convicted  by the fact that I am utterly addicted to noise.  Here’s what I mean by that: I constantly need my iPod on, listening to music or podcasts;  I constantly need to be on the internet finding more information; I always need to be reading a new and exciting book; I have to watch my Netflix movie to relax; and the list goes on and on.  For others, maybe the “noise” is Facebook, Twitter, the News, Talk radio, Sports, Television, Video games, etc.  Here’s the scary fact: none of those things listed are inherently bad (well, maybe watching the News) — in fact at times those things can be profitable.

The danger is if I always have the noise on, how can I hear from God?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t hear an audible voice from God.  I don’t doubt He can speak to us that way (He did all throughout the OT), however God “speaks” to me most when I get alone w. Him in a quiet place and when I experience Him in solitude.  Recently, I’ve really tried to enjoy His creation more than man’s creation.  When you think about it, man’s creation pales in comparison to God’s.  A few weeks ago I was working outside in the yard and I saw my little dog, Roxy, sitting in the sunlight absolutely loving her life.  She sat there for probably 30 minutes just laying in the grass, and I thought to myself “if only I could be so easy to please!”  She was simply enjoying God’s creation.  The sun, the grass, and air to breathe.  That was it for her.  I had to stop and thank God for reminding me how absolutely good He is.

When I look back on the last few weeks – it’s pathetic how little time I’ve spent absolutely alone w. God.  I try to justify “time alone w. God” by listening to more sermon podcasts, or reading Christian literature — but, that isn’t enough.  As profitable podcast and books are — it can easily still become noise.  To really get to the root of this addiction, I have to ask the question: Is God enough? If the noise is completely turned off – forever – will I be fully satisfied?

Frightening to think about, but a pressing question to work through.  You see, the more I spend time w. the noise on, the more I think it’s really that important, and the more I allow it to consume my life.  Anyone else spent hours on Facebook and thought that in that moment what you were doing was so absolutely important??  (“I have to look through this person’s 6 photo albums…there’s nothing more important that I could be doing right now!”)  I know guys who spend all day listening to talk radio and watching the news, thinking that the world would end if they didn’t hear Geraldo’s interview w. Tito Jackson.  Come on.  And this isn’t a new problem, as we read in Romans 1:25 “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” We read here Paul describing a group of people who had forgotten the real object of our worship — The Creator.

So my vote is to take time to turn the noise off,  and find time each day to enjoy God’s creation more than man’s creation.  There’s a lake by my house, and last night I went to it w. my family and it felt like the moments began to move into slow motion. My daughter fed the ducks, my wife pushed my son around in the stroller, and once again our dog, Roxy, simply walked around and loved life.  There was no noise (well, we did sing a little Jack Johnson), and we experienced God’s beauty.  Life was calm.  Life was still.  I didn’t feel compelled to check my email or Facebook; I didn’t feel any need to turn on the TV; and I found no need to allow the noise of the world to ruin our experience.  Even though I was completely alone w. God at the time, I found moments to stop and thank Him for how good and perfect His creation is (James 1:17). And it was so sweet.

Seeing that I’m on the internet writing this, and you’re on the internet reading this — it may be time to take a break and find time to be alone w. God!

Grace and peace…

Constantly Grateful

Recently, I was going through old boxes and found several CD’s that I listened to about 10 years ago.  It was then that I was first discovering indie music.  On my drive to work this morning, I was reminded how grateful I need to be for the gift of music.  It’s crazy how music can take me to so many different places, especially the past.

One CD in particular struck me in a weird way, and I literally felt like I was 15 all over again.  When Napster first came out, the first band I downloaded (well, stole — regrettably) was Further Seems Forever.  Their EP split w. the Recess Theory had just came out, so I grabbed those songs offline — which took about a week!  (Remember when downloading at 100 bites per second was awesome??)  Anyway, later that summer me and some friends saw Further at the first Furnace Fest in Alabama, and I just happened to find a video from that show on YouTube.

(Wow…was this really 9 years ago!)

Enjoy.

God doesn’t need another Rockstar | Part One

God doesn’t need another Rockstar.

He needs servants.

Here’s a question that’s haunted me for a while:  How does an artist/musician combat the temptation to want every eye on them rather than Christ?

No matter the arena, whether you are singing in a club, a restaurant, or a church – the greatest temptation for an artist is to become the center of attention.  Let’s face it – we’re performers, and we’re human — who doesn’t want feedback, compliments, and people to think we’re impressive? The problem is that Christ constantly calls His followers to be humble,  selfless, and He commands that our lives should point to the glory of God — not our own.  (1 Cor. 10:31)

So every time you put on that guitar, sit behind the drum kit, or get ready to sing in front of an audience — whether it be inside or outside of a church, it doesn’t matter — God has called us to use the gifts He’s given to us to point others to Him. (Matt. 25)  Well, that’s easy to say — but how do we do that amidst a culture that is so fixated on celebrity?  How do we do that in a setting where if you’re on stage you’re instantly in the spotlight, and cooler and more valuable than everyone else there?  How do we point others to God when every eye is on us?

First, here’s Jesus preaching in the gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 20:26-29
“Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.

Two reasons why this verse is important to this subject:
1)  Christ reminds us that we must be servants as He was a servant.  This is not optional for a Christ follower.
2)  If you notice the last verse, Jesus had a large crowd following Him, meaning, many eyes were on Him.

This declares, obviously, there’s nothing inherently wrong w. having a certain level of fame or being in the spotlight.  For musicians, initially, being the center of attention is unavoidable.  Think about it: if you’re playing at a club or venue, people are there to see YOU.  They’ve come to be entertained by you, hear you tell a story, watch your creativity take place, and somehow share an experience w. you.

With all of that being said, the two questions that I think it really boils down to are:
1) What are your motives?
2) How will you respond to all the attention?

For this blog post, I want to work through the first question:

What are your motives?

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question?  Why in the world am I doing this? I tell you what — it’s not an easy question to ask, but typically a pretty easy question to answer.  If you really stop and think about why you’re doing what you’re doing, it doesn’t take that long to figure it out.

A few years back, I realized what a great feeling it is to travel to different places and have everyone waiting to see YOU.  When you’re in a band getting ready to play a show, to stop and realize that there are people getting in their car, driving to a venue, actually paying money, just to see you — that’s an awesome feeling!  People give you a million compliments, and think you’re the greatest thing in the world (well – that’s what they say to all of the bands).  Either way, it’s easy to get addicted to all of the attention.

This happens in the church as well.  What a temptation it is to crave attention when you’re the guy up front!  Since when did the “Worship Leader” start thinking he was the coolest guy in the church?  Since when did he become any more important than the person who shows up at 5am to clean the toilets?  Since when did the worship guys become more prideful than anyone else in the church? If I hear one more arrogant “worship leader” refer to what they do as a “worship gig” — I’m going to punch myself in the face.  Seriously? Glorifying Christ through the gifts He alone has given to you, and leading, shepherding, and teaching His children about who He is — you’re calling it a worship gig?  As if it’s just another show you’re doing on Sundays.  No biggie, right?  I don’t think so.  Wrong motives.

When it comes to Musical Worship in the church…
As a musical worship Pastor, I check my motives every single week.  Why am I doing this? What are my motives? Most of the time, if I’m completely honest, my initial gut response is because I want people to be impressed w. me. I really do.  It’s pretty pathetic really.  But then I remember why God has called me to do this:  to lead others, to serve others, and to serve Him.  Sometimes God uses gentle reminders, other times He uses a good kick in the pants, but I’m always brought back to the fact that He alone is the center of the universe, He alone is the star of the show, and He alone deserves all of the glory and honor.  Not me.

When it comes to Performing outside of the church…
You ever think about the fact that He gave you all of the talents that you have?  That at any moment, God could take it all away?  Sure you spent time cultivating the gifts w. years of practice and what-not — but in an instance, it could all be gone.  It’s a humbling thought. So when I’m playing at a club/bar/venue — my motives shouldn’t simply be to entertain people.  Sure that’s what I’m getting paid to do, but think about it: God didn’t give me this gift just to make money, there’s a much greater purpose.  His gave me this gift ultimately to draw people back to Him.  Here’s the crazy thing about music: God constantly uses it to draw people closer to Him.  He does.  When I have those moments that I’m just lost in the greatest pleasure of music (mostly when listening to Sigur Ros), I come back to how absolutely incredible God is.  I mean, how good is God that He would share w. us this gift of music!  The sad thing is most of the time we just don’t realize that He’s wanting us to draw near to Him in those moments.  The lie is that in those moments the lyrics have to be about God or Christ (which is an entirely different blog post soon to come).  Music is universal, you won’t meet anyone who doesn’t enjoy some form of music; and here we are as artists/musicians who have been given the gift to share w. others– what an awesome gift and responsibility.

So a couple great and very practical things to be thinking when playing out:  What’s my attitude like on stage?  What about the conversations I have in between sets? Am I trying to build relationships w. people or am I going to act like I’m cooler than everyone else and play my set, get paid, and split?  Am I willing to listen to people as they talk to me after the show?  Do I view my fans as human beings that Christ died for — or do I simply see them as people who boost my ego and help pay my bills?  Finally – every time you play a gig (not a worship gig — ridiculous), I strongly encourage you to pray that God will give you opportunities to point people to Him, because He will.

Even when you’re motives are way off the mark…
Remember, we’re fallen people who desperately need Christ and His guidance (Eph. 2:1-10).  So even when you’re motives are full of pride and self-centeredness — at least you stopped to take the time to evaluate.  After evaluation, the process should then follow w. some sort of repentance, and change of heart.  Either way — it’s a great starting point.  The worst thing you can do is never ask the question.

So I’ll end this post w. the question: What are your motives?