The Dead Made Alive

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2

Have you ever gone through a transformation where you felt dead and then were alive?  Easy!  Everyone should have felt that when you accepted Christ into your hearts.  Sometimes though, you can get that same feeling with other things in your life.

This past Lent season, I gave something up.  I normally don't do this, or I would halfheartedly do it, but this last season, I gave it my all.  You see, a few months prior to Lent starting, I had this weight on my heart from God.  I really started paying attention to the music I listened to and I saw that it was not Godly.  Now, I'm not going to say that all secular music is bad, but the stuff I was listening to was blatant blasphemy.  One of the lyrics to a song I loved was "*bleep* your God, and your Lord, and your Christ."  I mean... it doesn't get any clearer than that.  I was listening to filth.

So I prayed about it.  A lot!  Music is something near and dear to me.  It's an escape, it's a relief, it's a chance for me to live free in the moment.  I'd crank my car stereo up loud and dance around and sing at the top of my lungs, not caring who I pulled up next to.  Anyways, I made a conscious effort after having my son to not listen to that music around him.  The little voice I kept hearing though, said, "If this isn't good for your son, your child, to listen to, why is it good for you, my child, to listen to?"

I fought it.  And oh, how I was tempted!  Another thing I love is free stuff (who doesn't!) and I had just discovered that the Google Play store had a small selection of free songs each week.  Score!  Every week they'd have some stuff that I'd love and I'd gobble it up.  Some were songs I knew, some were artists I knew, and some were just hard and loud rock.  Yet, still that voice persisted.

I saw Lent coming up and I said, "Ok, God.  If you want me to do this, I'll do it for a little bit.  I'll go through Lent without listening to my music.  I'll switch over to Christian music during that time."  And so, I did.

It was an amazing experience!  Within a few weeks of the change, I was asked to find a place within my church to volunteer.  Again, the little voice from God was speaking, and this time it was saying, "Sing."  I have never sang before!  I can't do this in public.  I'm sure I'm not good enough to lead the church in worship songs.  Yet, the voice persisted and I auditioned and made the worship band.  I'm still surprised at this.  So I started purchasing the worship songs and that became what I listened to all day.

I was feeling great, but still missing my hard stuff.  I talked to a few of my friends about it and they gave me some band suggestions.  There were hard rock Christian bands!  Singing about God!  I could find the style I liked, and have messages that I don't feel guilty listening to.  I see now that I was dead in regards to my music.  Yes, it may have made me felt good, but it was a dead area of me that I needed to focus and direct towards Christ.  Now that Lent's over, I'm not switching back.  I've made the jump fully and I'm going to continue to use this as a way to praise God.  So when you see me bopping my head with my headphones on in my cubicle, I'm really bopping and singing to Christ.

Where are you feeling dead that you can change to feel more alive in Christ?