I want a broken heart.

I don't play music. I used to sing with my brother, but I was never very comfortable on stage. I felt uneasy and like I was just trying to get it over with, so it was hard for me to truly worship God through singing (in front of anyone). But anyways, all that to say... I read an article by Keith Green that just makes me... cry. I don't know much about him, but his words were so solid and God-glorifying. The article is about musicians, and although I am not one, it is such a huge truth that must be understood, accepted, and applied by Christians in their life as a whole...especially me. I know a lot of people who love playing music, and I have heard most of them discuss the struggles with pride and self-glorification that comes with it. But these struggles don't come only from the pursuit of music, they can come from anything that anyone holds too dear to their heart. For some people it's their job, or their spouse or kids, technology, or money...an idol could be anything. For me, I will be honest and say that I must always be on guard about this in my relationship with my boyfriend. So SO often Christians say "Aside from God, ______ is my highest priority" or "God comes first and then ______." (Besides those just being really silly phrases that for some reason are starting to get on my nerves)...do we really mean it? Do I really live that way? Can my brothers and sisters in Christ see that the Gospel and pursuing holiness and obedience is my highest priority? Can the lost see it in us as believers? Do we look any different from the world? We must be extremely careful of what we give our highest attention and love to.

A few quotes from it:

• "Are you willing to never play music again? Are you willing to be a nothing? Are you willing to go anywhere and do anything for Christ? Are you willing to stay right where you are and let the Lord do great things through you, though no one may seem to notice at all?"
• "I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy (Romans 11:11) or to sell out more completely to Jesus!"
• "To finish, let me say that the only music minister to whom the Lord will say, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant," is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister's most important goal!"

**Please read the whole article here.

And so we will always be with the Lord.

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words."

(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV)

William Frank Moore 1922-2010