Music vs. Worship

I love to teach things about which I am passionate, and music seems to be the area that gets the most attention in that regard. It brings me great joy and satisfaction to watch a student learn a new musical concept or skill. However, it is important that I continually remind myself that it does not matter if my kids can sight read Handel's "Messiah" if they do not have a vibrant worship relationship with God.

Teaching them to be worshippers is the greatest gift I can give my students. With the never-ending demands of "performance dates" and trying to keep the kids engaged, it is a far to easy to become distracted by secondary items. Learning to be great musicians and artists is a wonderful goal, but all of this is just to be a vehicle for the greater purpose: teaching them to worship. That, alone, will change their life for eternity!

So here's my advice: Teach your kids cool songs and awesome musical and artistic skills. Use as much creativity as you can muster in this endeavor, but don't forget the most important thing. Tie it all together and talk about what the songs mean. What is each song saying? How can they apply what they are singing? Teach them to worship. Then give them a chance to put it into practice. This will change their life!