Thought for Today

I’d like to continue this brief series with a personal story, an event that I was part of several decades ago. I was taking mountain dulcimer lessons at the time, a traditional Appalachian folk instrument. Historically it was played primarily by young mothers to soothe their infants. It eventually become an instrument of choice for Wiccans and those practicing various pagan religions. My teacher at the time was a well-known Wiccan, and I, the music student, a Christian.

In one of my less wise moves—something I do admit—I went to one of her concerts. About half way through the concert “they” showed up (you can guess who and what “they” were). For reasons God alone knew, He allowed me to see “them” when they arrived. As best I could tell, everyone other than myself cheered when “they” showed up. I cringed. A side note: I eventually became proficient enough on the instrument that my teacher gave me the opportunity to perform publicly with her, but I declined as I couldn’t come under her spiritual authorities.

If I look back on that experience, it was an object lesson of the reality of the world of the demonic, as well as the deception people are under. More could be said, but I’d rather leave it at that. Was it a wise move that I went to that concert? No. Did God teach me some valuable lessons out of that experience? Yes.

That brings us back to the performance of “Unholy” and the Grammys. As Christians, we really do need to trust the Holy Spirit’s ministry in each other’s lives. If something is truly going awry, we can trust God to give us appropriate times to speak.

As mentioned before in this blog, Jesus directly states that the world will know we are his disciples by our love for one another (meaning in context other believers). To me, all too often what the worlds sees is sheer condemnation, of being unwilling to give the grace that we so crave for ourselves (think in some ways, the parable of the unmerciful servant).

May we truly love fellow believers with the love Christ has for us, even during—and especially during—those times where an admonition is necessary. Let us trust God to direct each one of us as only he knows best. Let us remember that each one of us ultimately answers to God: he is the master that we serve.