The Relationship of Music

  I think the subject in music that has fixated the most in our culture is relationships. Even in the past, if people didn't out right say it, they were expressing in their own method the way they were feeling about life and those around them. We are built for relationships, that includes our spiritual and earthly lives. If were not built for them, then God wouldn't have made and given us friends and family. The entire concept of family, companions, friends,connection and reconciliation is all from God! Here is a few verses about relationships that I find comforting in the Bible...

We are precious to God: 
John 3:16 " For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 15:12-15 "This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I don’t call you servants any longer, because servants don’t know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you."
Jeremiah. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope".

We are made for companionship:
Gen 2:18 "The LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him.'"
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their hard work. If either should fall, one can pick up the other. But how miserable are those who fall and don’t have a companion to help them up! Also, if two lie down together, they can stay warm. But how can anyone stay warm alone? Also, one can be overpowered, but two together can put up resistance. A three-ply cord doesn’t easily snap."
Prov. 27:17  "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

God is our Heavenly Father: 
John 1:12 "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name".
Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
 I John 3:1-2 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."

We are part of the family of God:
Eph 2:19-22  "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit".
Romans 12:5  So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

We are made for reconciliation: 
2 Cor 5:17-19 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived! All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.

     Yet as so many things after the Fall in the garden with Adam, Eve and God, what was once a good and perfect relationship, now is messed up and sinful. The first and biggest thing that is messed up is our spiritual relationships with God, which God is constantly trying to redeem. Hallelujah! Thankfully while God is redeeming and saving people, He is also redeeming music and is still using some amazing artists to make music to His glory. And yet at the same time we can see how lost our culture is by the music that isn't focused on God. And with the fixation on life and relationships that humans have, that is what the world is writing about. They are writing about the second biggest thing that is messed up: our relationships with each other.  The sad thing is that so many popular songs are just that, sad!

     A verse that I was taught a long time ago and that is still a challenge to me is Philippians 4:8 which says "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things". This verse applies to music as well. Even though I think there is a time for laughing and a time for crying (Ecc. 3:4), the main focus of our lives should be positive. I think David the Psalmist is one of the greatest examples of expressing the ups and downs of life and who can argue with some of the best poetry and some of the most honest words penned? And of course the Psalms end on a high and positive aspect! The key we need to look for in music is if it really shows positivity, healing, reconciliation, forward motion, true love and God's grace!