When you are struggling with the music you experience at church stop for just a moment and realize that there is a difference between biblical values that have nothing to do with likes or dislikes and religious preferences which have everything to do with likes and dislikes.
While both are important and God uses them to guide us to the right ‘church family’ and culture, one is definitely more important.
When looking for a good church home to plug into (and before you get distracted and frustrated over the wrong thing(s)), stop for a moment and do the following:
1. Ask yourself, “Can I sing to God and praise him even if it is with a song I may not like or am not familiar with?”
2. Also ask yourself, “Can I hear God’s voice even if the preaching is bad or the church service is weird or boring?”
3. Then get to know some of the people in a small group in and outside of the church setting. Relationships have a way of making religious (music, etc..) preferences not seem so important.
4. Once you have done the above ask the most important question, “God is this where you want me and desire to use me and grow me in my relationship with you?”
In my experience God usually (well almost always) takes me out of my comfort zone and stretches me in the areas of my preferences so that he can grow me up in my understanding of his biblical values to refine me for his purpose and ultimate glory.
John 4:21-24, “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Could the ‘mountains’ Jesus was referring to when speaking with the Samaritan women be our modern day churches today? Because of the work Jesus did on the cross we know what/who we are worshiping today… or do we… Regardless of how you or I might answer these questions the fact remains that, “the time has now come…” So the BIG question that we must all wrestle with in church is, “Am I a true worshiper?”
I pray for you and for me the answer is yes and we can step over the mess we have made and get on with what is important to God… worshiping him in Spirit and in truth…
Rob Springer ETX 