I'm excited for today's post, because I get to talk about something I think about a lot but don't talk about a lot. I think it's so important to live what I have termed "the examined life." To me, this is living by discernment. Not living by absolute rules, not living by no rules at all. Living by being a thinking person and choosing to think for oneself.
What is the standard for this? Christ. I was reading Augustine, I think, and there was a lovely passage about standards. I'll see if I can find it later. But here's the thing:
You do not need to live according to rules, but you do need to live in obedience.
You do not need to make decisions legalistically, but you do need to make decisions discerningly.
See what that does? You're free, but then again, you're not. It's a paradox of the Christian position. Well, it's probably not a paradox if I were smarter, but it seems like one to me. It makes me think of the verse in Corinthians: ". . . the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave" (1 Cor. 7:22).
But regardless of the paradox, here is what's important:
Honor Christ.
Yup! Honor him! Why? Because he has called us to a holy life. Because he has justified us by his blood. Because he has cleansed us from our sins.
Also, it's the right thing to do. I know I don't always choose to honor Christ out of pure thankfulness for what he has done for me. Sometimes, it seems I just obey out of obedience. But I'm not sure I think that's completely bad.
Also (x2), people notice. This isn't why we choose to honor Christ. But it is a result: when we honor Christ, we look different. And when we look different, people notice.
So back to music. How do we honor Christ in our music? Is it by only listening to Christian music? I would argue that it's not. I do think some choose to do this, and I certainly don't think that's always wrong. But I think we honor Christ in our music by using discernment.
One quick note on only listening to Christian music. I certainly think that there are some places where this is useful, especially when it is the choice or preference of an individual. What I wonder about is parents who make this a rule for their children. I am inclined to wonder whether children in the Church would not learn more from practical lessons and guidance in discernment than from a rule. I think it's great for parents to see how their children would handle this, but I do think that they should examine the potential consequences of legalism, whether on the rebellious side or the checkbox side.
Anyhow, I'm eighteen, and I make my own decisions about music. They're different from other Christians I know, but I don't think that's necessarily bad! It's bad when Christians do not use discernment for music, but discernment has different results for everyone.
Now, onto the manifestations of this examined-life-discernment-honor-Christ plan for me. The term I generally use when deciding about music is "above reproach." I can't remember where I got this, but it's my standard. How this translates practically (from general to specific):
*disclaimer: please remember that this doesn't have to be what you decide! I'm just sharing my method with you. Hopefully it makes you think. Hopefully it doesn't make you think you have to do exactly this or do nothing at all.*
If a song explicit, it's a no.
If a song is not explicit but another on the album or by the artist is, it's a no.
If a song is not explicit but the artist lives a lifestyle which...well, I'm not sure how to evaluate lifestyle in words without being insulting, but I'll assume you can guess at my meaning...it's a no.
This is all pretty clear. And that's what I've done so far. I am looking forward to examining explicit songs that might have value on future Music Mondays.
But the rest of the list is trickier. It doesn't fit so nicely into sentences, but the general idea is the issue of something being "implicit," which also is problematic. Music with explicit content is not the only way music can be inappropriate. Let's realize that, if the world recognizes it as wrong, you know it's bad. But again, by this logic, we know "the world" will miss a few things. (Excuse the "world" terms and the scare quotes. I just mean that whoever assigns iTunes ratings is not seeking to honor Christ, but we are.) And usually, I find, these hide in references to sex, drinking, and poor treatment of others. I say hide, but that makes it sound like it's not our fault. I think we choose to ignore these things.
This is a problem. Ignoring sin is a problem. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be excellent at what is good, be innocent of evil.
We must evaluate our music. How should we do this? What will it take? Reading the lyrics of songs aloud? Imagining ourselves writing and singing them? Acting them out until we're too ashamed to continue? What must we do to make the sin in this too blatant for us to stop ignoring?
But we must stop ignoring. We must cling to Christ. If he is our Savior, he is also our standard. If he is our Holy One, we must honor him.
I have this in my life in a more specific way than some of y'all. You see, I'm a dancer. And because I'm a dancer, if I listen to something, I'm going to want to choreograph to it. And if I'm going to choreograph to it, I'm going to need to be able to act it out. So if a song says certain things, I'm going to want to do certain things. And there are certain things that it is not okay to do. See the problem? If I teach a middle school hip hop class, would I want them to not only listen to this, but seek to embody it? Not only know the words, but hear it over and over again?
See? That makes it hard. I'm not just accountable to my mind, but to my body. I'm not just accountable to myself, but to my young dancers. And you? Well, you and I are both not just accountable to ourselves, but to Christ. We were bought with a price, therefore we must honor God with our music.
So I'm excited to look at specific music in upcoming weeks and compare them to the standard of Christ.
Also: I'm sorry if this comes across as preachy or as something I've got all figured out. I assure you I have enough flaws to fill thousands of blog posts, and I'm sure you'll get to hear all about them. I just hope in this blog I'll be able to hold the balance of encouraging both in my strengths and in my weaknesses.
