The Music of Sin

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There once was a young boy, he loved his music and he loved to sing. His Mother raised him up on the old Gospel songs and the Hymnal from church, she didn't really enjoy any of the other music that was more modern and as a result there wasn't much of it at all in their home. 

As the boy got older and began attending more youth events from his school and going out with his friends he began getting exposed to some of the music they listened to. At first the music he heard absolutely repulsed him, "this isn't music" he would say to himself, "It's nothing but noise." But he would tolerate it and quietly hum to himself so as not to bother his friends.

But as time went on he began to get accustomed to the music that his friends would play, it didn't quite bother him as much as it used to. "Eh, it doesn't bother me. It's not terrible but not something I would listen to," he would say. Maybe once or twice he would find a song that they played that caught his fancy, but he still didn't really like it. 

As he continued to listen to the few songs he had found that he liked he would start finding other songs of similar style, and he would listen to those songs as well, and as he listened to those songs he got more used to some of the harder styles, and he went deeper, and deeper.

One day he sat down and went through his play list on his computer, he suddenly realized the stark contrast between the different songs that he had. There would be a Gospel or a Worship song right next to some sort of heavy metal song in his playlist.

"Oh no," he thought to himself as he continued listening and scanning his playlist, "No no, this isn't good. I can't have both of these types of songs together side by side. It just doesn't sound right."

And there he had to make a choice about what to do with his music.

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From personal experience I found the above story to be true, and I based it just a little bit off of me and my music tastes. Anyone that knows me knows I listen to almost anything. I won't listen to anything with dirty lyrics, and I refuse to listen to the heavy metal screamo crap that seems to be getting more and more popular.

I listen to everything from Gospel to Christian Rock, Country to Rap, and I quite enjoy my classical music and listening to Movie scores. I wasn't always like that though, when I was younger I absolutely hated Rock music with a passion. It just didn't sit right with me. But just like in the above story the more I listened to it the more I got used to the sounds and some of the "softer" rock songs I actually found myself enjoying. Those songs got me listening to other songs and those songs pulled me into other artists and genres. 

The same thing can happen in our Walk as Christians, and the world knows it and is trying to play us. As we walk through life there are so many sins that go on around us that aren't being called out or addressed properly and our young men and women that are growing up in this age are being told it's normal and perfectly okay. 

They're seeing the sin, seeing others doing it, and as a result are becoming desensitized to it so they don't see it as a sin anymore. If that doesn't scare you it should. 

It often starts with a small little sin, just a little something that isn't really that bad. We can let it slide just once. Then once we do that a few times and we're pretty comfortable we think to ourselves, "well hey! Nothing happened from that last thing, lets go the next level and see what happens." And we push and push, and before we know it we're so deep in sin that we look around and can't even see the entrance to how we got there.

There's only one way we can fight the fight and continue to keep our spirits and our minds sharp and attentive to the sin that is around us. We have to continue to read our Bibles and we need to be addressing sin for what it is. 

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming." Colossians 3:5-6

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of heaven."

But it doesn't end there, where there is a rebuke or doom proclaimed there is also hope and peace offered.

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

"For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." Deuteronomy 20:4

We need to be willing as Christians to take a stand and when it's there and in our face to look it straight in the face and say "Get behind me Satan!" We're told if we resist then the devil will flee(James 4:7). It's about time we started resisting and fighting to keep our children from the ways of the world rather than to sit back and excuse it by saying "it's just a phase".

Let's start resisting the music, refuse to listen to the tunes the world is playing trying to entice us in.

God Bless,

     Ryan