Being opinionated is an easy thing to do. Being humble is hard. Everyone has opinions, it is only to our benefit to be humble. Influence is one of the greatest tools we have at our disposal. Opinions mingled with pride will severely limit our ability to influence others for God.
Being opinionated is an easy thing to do. Being humble is hard. Everyone has opinions, it is only to our benefit to be humble. Influence is one of the greatest tools we have at our disposal. Opinions mingled with pride will severely limit our ability to influence others for God.
I try my best not to be reactionary to things that come across my computer screen. About three months back, however, I read an article that was harsh toward music leaders. Sometimes that's good, but it should be Scriptural. If it's opinion, it should be seasoned with salt. (i.e. "tempered with humility")
Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Opinions are our own understanding of particular events, people or topics. We need to learn how to lean heavily on the Lord and put less and less stock in our own understanding. Areas not clearly dealt with in the Word of God should be addressed humbly as we are all learning and growing!
Sometimes, we need to share opinions on "Hot Topics". Too many times, people have been hurt unnecessarily because we refuse to temper our "strong medicine" with "a teaspoon of sugar", if you'll forgive the expression!!!
First, I'll share some things I read in the incendiary blog post. The only reason I'll even share these is to contrast a boastful approach to giving opinions with the ray of sunlight that is humility of mind.
Ok, first, the dark clouds. Read these quotes:
- I was listening to some music from a popular ministry the other day, and the idea for this article came to me. After the completion of one of the songs, the worship leader began what I affectionately term “praise venting.” “Thank you Jesus! Praise you Jesus! Lord, you are wonderful! Majestic!” Forgive me if I don’t have the quotes down correctly, but you get the idea. “Praise venting” has always bothered me. When I hear it, I find myself thinking, I’m glad he’s enraptured. What’s my problem? Would I ever have the guts to do that publicly? Why does that always sound fake? What am I supposed to do while he’s doing that?
- Sometimes it seems to me that worship leaders find God boring. Because He’s the same throughout the ages, He’s become commonplace to the worshiper. God has been figured out. The awe and wonder have died. Worship leaders portray this attitude when they institute cheap tricks to keep the congregation “engaged.” This may seem odd to you, but the spiritual calisthenics of constant standing up and sitting down gets old. Perhaps it’s because I rarely understand why on some songs I stand and yet during others I sit. Another favorite is when the worship leader asks the ladies sing the second verse. It does not make sense to me. I find myself thinking, I bet you the men are going to have to sing the last, but those ladies sure sound nice. If you are going to have different people sing different parts, explain the intention and make the reason loftier than variety. My thoughts easily drift off God. If you are directing our hearts to the God who holds the universe in place, we should need no false stimulants. These tactics are a simple admission of how truly trite many feel God really is.
- Sometimes worship leaders can unintentionally draw attention to themselves. Many leaders who are of the hand-waving style of leading have kooky hand flips or stilted arm movements. I sometimes feel like I’m watching a seizure, not song-leading.
Forgive me for feeling frustrated with someone taking issue with things that are really "non-issues"! The article goes on and on. Some of the advice was decent, some was just silly, but there is an overwhelming air of "This is how you should do it!"
Honestly, we've probably all dealt with people like this. They've never been a conductor or music leader who has submitted to a pastor and been tasked with leading choirs and congregations in praise. But they've been around. Oh yes! They have been around! AND, read plenty of books. They can tell you to a tee how it ought to be done. Folks like this are a dime a dozen.
There's really not much use for a person who can tell you how to do it, but can't show you how to do it. Luke's account of Jesus' life was, "all that Jesus began both to do and teach" (Acts 1:1) A well-rounded minister is one who can do and teach. Advice from the outside is usually bloated with ego and pride. Once we have tried, failed, learned, tried again and succeeded, we become effective teachers.
Now, the ray of sunlight: I don't want to copy and paste the whole article, so I'll just link to it.
http://www.worshipmatters.com/2012/08/16/from-the-archives-top-ten-reasons-to-share-musical-opinions-humbly/
Both articles have some great advice. They both have great suggestions. The second just has a teaspoon of sugar... Humility!