Bob Kauflin recently wrote an article entitled “Good Music Can Become Your God: Five Reasons Jesus Is Better” that was published by Desiring God on November 16, 2019. Bob’s article is filled with much wisdom and help especially as it relates to music. Here is an excerpt that we hope will stir your interest to read the entire article.

But as much as I love music, I’ve realized it’s possible to confuse feelings produced by music with feelings produced by truth. Some sixteen hundred years ago, Augustine was  brutally honest about that struggle in his Confessions. He acknowledged the benefits of singing and listening to others sing, and said it might even inspire feelings of devotion in weaker spirits. But then he admitted, “When I find the singing itself more moving than the truth which it conveys, I confess that this is a grievous sin, and at those times I would prefer not to hear the singer.”

If a spiritual giant like Augustine struggled with valuing musically-induced feelings over spiritual ones, we probably will too. But I don’t think many of us would see that as a “grievous sin.” Maybe we should.

In addressing how to sing, Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). We aren’t to let musical experiences dwell in us richly. Not technological creativity, volume, skill, excellence, or an “atmosphere.” We’re to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. 

The “word of Christ” is the message about him we often call “the gospel.” It’s the good news that Jesus Christ took on flesh so he could bear our sins and punishment to justify us before God and bring us into his family. Those truths are meant to dwell in us richly as we sing.