Candy Bars

How many times have I been standing in the checkout line, resisting the temptation to grab my favorite candy bar and trying to find something else to think about besides the rumbling in my stomach?

We have all been there, I dare say. We all know how deliciously irresistible those pretty packaged temptations are, versus how good they are for us!

Have you noticed that recently companies have thrown new choices our way? Now we can eat the same candy bars, but they’re better because they’re “light” and “low fat”! I can’t help it. That just makes me smile. Real candy bars have little to no nutritional value, and these new “dieting” candy bars have about the same.
Candy bars are tempting because they satisfy our cravings for sweets. They make us feel good, for awhile but if we eat them too often, it becomes much easier to grab a Snickers than an apple or carrot sticks. How they affect us becomes a small thing compared to how they make us “feel”!

Music can be the same way. Like our favorite candy bars, the world markets its music by the feelings that music produces in us. The tunes and lyrics are addictive. They are played, referenced, advertised, and promoted everywhere we go. And let’s be honest, of all the genres, there’s always at least one type that appeals to our personal weaknesses. The tastes are appealing because they make us feel good, just like our favorite candy bars. The words might be questionable, but the songs leave you feeling….. And we fill in our excuse.

So what about the more contemporary Christian songs? They are like the “low fat” and “light” candy bars. They’ve been changed just a little bit too look better, “safer” if you will, to the consumer. Except for the lyrics and minor changes in the style, they sound and feel just like the world’s music. And what is even more attractive is that they appeal to our flesh in the same way the original tunes did.

In the end, both forms are like the candy bars. They taste good at first, but carry little to no spiritually nutritional value.  Like candy, this “Christian” music is addictive, but what is worse is that it ruins the individuals’ appetite for the “real food.” Traditional Christian music is labeled “old fashioned” and “boring.” It seems flavorless to the person satiated with the sweetness of contemporary styles. I’m not saying that all contemporary songs are meaningless and don’t have good things to say. But the good things in these songs are wrapped in worldly beats, tunes, and vocal styles that emphasize how we FEEL rather than biblically sound Truth. If they’re all the same, why does it become harder and harder to listen to original Christian music?

The doctrinally sound hymns that challenge us to think and call us to the altar, are no longer satisfying. You see, the tunes don’t make you FEEL so emotional, so you are left to read the WORDS. Songs exclaiming the power of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the command to repent are quietly excluded from services, for songs religiously neutral. The old rugged cross becomes an offense to those claiming the name of Christ, for it suggests reciprocal sacrifice!

Praise songs take preeminence, drowning out the call to be crucified with Christ. They most often are “feel good” in nature and become more about the performer and performance than about soul searching.
This sounds harsh even to me, especially when trying to explain this to someone only accustomed to contemporary Christian music. But the question I have to ask myself is, do I want to fill up on candy bars, feeding my flesh, or do I want to strive to feed the Spirit by listening to music spiritually enriched? Jesus said, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak.”

The Lord has shown me that even nice songs that have questionable lyrics are not beneficial in the long run because they can be shallow in meaning. I’m still learning to discern the “candy bars” of this world from the good stuff that will bring honor and glory to God. I’m thankful that the Lord continues to teach me. It helps me to picture the Lord listening to my music with me.
Can I really please Him with what I’m listening to?

So the next time the “candy bars” tempt us, let’s turn to the real food and feed the new man!

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20