Friday night we attended a Christian rock concert with our youngest daughter who is a junior in high school. Sidewalk Prophets & 10th Avenue North rocked the venue. Part way through the evening she told us there was no place she would rather be than at that concert with her parents on a Friday night.
Psalm 95:2 says, “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” That is exactly what happened in that arena. To a sold out crowd they made Psalm 100:1-2 a reality - “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”
In a previous post I mentioned that we had tried to raise our daughters to keep the following scenario in mind: If Jesus knocked on the door and came in to our house could he listen to your music, watch that TV show or movie with you, read any book on your shelf?
To our family that meant investing time and money into Christian music. We attended concerts together, listened and supported a Christian radio station and played that type of music at home. When our girls were still at the car seat stage singing from the back seat we wanted it to be lyrics that were appropriate. Lyrics that would build our daughters up, encourage good choices and help them to be better people.
They started attending concerts when they were too little to keep their seat down with their own weight. (It was a good thing their Dad had long arms since they insisted they were big girls and could sit by themselves!) As they got older we chose to always say yes to any reasonable request to attend a concert, download a CD or buy a concert T-shirt.
And as they got older they began to feel the difference of what it meant to be raised in a counter-cultural way with their music choices. Most of their friends did not know their music and they did not know the music that was popular with people their own age. They have a wardrobe of rock concert t-shirts that are generally only recognized at the church camp where they work and at youth group.
Attending school dances was uncomfortable at first with all the loud music they did not know and did not appreciate. An evening out with friends who were cranking their favorite bands could also be awkward. This opened up some great dialog with our teens as to why we chose to raise them with this type of music and why we made these choices for our family.
Scientists have found that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human function. My challenge for you today is to prayerfully consider your music choices? Do the songs you hear build you up, encourage good choices and help you to be a better person?