Sing it the way it's written

My wife has a great ear for music. Me, I enjoy music very much. I have an appreciation for good music, which depending on your definition of “good,” can range from such classical pieces as Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” to the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and all the way to “Goodnight My Someone” from “The Music Man” and the children’s church gem, “God Is So Good.” 

I even like to sing. Not that anybody from Sony has been calling and begging me to sign a record deal, but I do get calls from my boys urging me to stop singing around the house. Secretly I think they like me making up silly songs and being goofy at home, but they would never admit it. 

All that to say that I am a fan of music, but I’m not a musician. Amy, on the other hand, knows music. Her definition of “good” music far eclipses mine. When I get in the car after she’s been driving, I always have to change the radio station from classical music of Bach and Mozart to something that sounds more like TobyMac or Jars of Clay. 

Amy’s also directing our church choir as we are preparing for an Easter musical. You should come, by the way, and hear us on Easter Sunday morning at 10:45. We’re also planning to sing one selection from that piece on the morning our Revival Services start, March 17. If you don’t have a church home, you should come and be our guest. And plan to attend our Revival Services if you can, March 17-20. We’d love to have you. 

So anyway, we’re rehearsing these songs, and I’m telling you, if one person in the entire choir goes off key or gets behind, she doesn’t miss it. And she’s not afraid to stop the music and make sure we all get it right. She knows how the song’s supposed to go, and if it doesn’t go the way it’s written, we need to fix it. She’s tough, but she’s good. 

And the end product sounds wonderful. 

Now what would be so wrong, you may ask, if the choir director just let everyone sing the songs however they felt they wanted to? So what if one or two people are kind of making up their own parts somewhere between bass and tenor? Who cares if an alto wants to hold out a note for an extra beat, or if a soprano likes to take a breath in the middle of a word? They’re not hurting anyone, are they? And besides, who is the choir director to tell somebody else how they should sing? 

It would be a pretty awful and chaotic sound. You know, though, that’s exactly what happens when people start doing whatever they think is right, even if it’s not. For example, the major social and moral issue facing our generation and our state is the “gay marriage” agenda. That part is not written in the score. Somebody needs to say, “Stop the music! You can’t sing it that way. You’re off key. Let’s work on this and get it right.” 

Not everybody has to sing the exact same parts, I get that. But when a couple of basses are defiantly singing the wrong notes and refuse to change and demand that everyone else in the choir accept it, that’s not going to work. Yes, it does hurt the choir, and it recoils the ears of the listening world. The end result is an awful, chaotic noise. 

Listen, God can and has changed the lives of many sinners, including homosexuals, and transformed them by His mercy and grace into living reflections of His glory. He offers forgiveness and cleansing for whosoever repents and turns in faith to Jesus, who gave His life on the cross for the forgiveness of all sins. Don’t reject His gift of salvation! Come to Him, and find rest for your soul. Come to Christ for life!

God has composed life in such a way that when we’re living according to His written Word, it’s a beautiful sound. He knows life better than my wife knows music. There is a right way and there are wrong ways. It’s time to follow His lead.