A father lovingly gave his child a small set of toy blocks to play with. The father’s intention was to teach the child how to be creative with the blocks, but more importantly he wanted to strengthen their relationship through the learning process. However, the child didn’t want instruction and averted the father’s attempts to instruct him on how the blocks would be best used. The child spent all of his time with the blocks that he had been given without his father. Since the main purpose of giving the blocks was to build the relationship, this grieved the father. Their relationship did not become distant as a result, but the blocks did not bring them closer together as the father wanted them to.
As the child became very good at building things with the blocks he had been given, the father decided that he was ready to have more blocks that would increase the child’s potential to be creative. But when the father gave the child the new blocks, the child decided that they were too complicated and went back to the blocks he had been given before. By this time, the child had exhausted all possibilities with the old blocks and was beginning to build the same things with them over and over again. He thwarted every attempt the father made to teach the child how to use the new blocks and chose mindless repetition over learning anything new.
God is very creative, and wants us to be as well. But the purpose for our creativity is to strengthen our relationship with him. Listening to and creating music should always be an act of building our relationship, but it often becomes a redundant routine of mindless repetition. Therefore, I believe we should always be challenging ourselves to be more creative each time we listen to or create music, and ask for God’s wisdom and guidance throughout the creative process so that our artistic endeavors will be focused on the purpose of getting to know God better. Thoughtless repetition will not help you worship God or get to know him in new ways. Progressing in knowledge and depth of insight will give you a fresh perspective on who God is and how we can love and worship Him more deeply.
Anything you do that isn’t strengthening your relationship with God is useless fluff in your life. Get rid of it.
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Psalm 33:3, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
Psalm 40:3, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.”
Psalm 96:1, “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.”
Psalm 98:1, “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.”
Psalm 144:9, “I will sing a new song to you, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you…”
Psalm 149:1, “Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.“