Posted on February 7th, 2023.

Why Should We Be Listening to Christian Music?

I love listening to Christian music…whether it be traditional hymns, praise songs we sing in my church or (some) contemporary Christian music I hear on the radio.

I love singing to my Heavenly Father. I love to hear lyrics that remind me of what my Savior did for me and how beautiful His love is. I love singing about His perfect and unmatched character, proclaiming truths out loud. And I love that the Holy Spirit convicts me and moves in my heart using some of the lyrics I hear.

I’m not going to address what kind of music should or should not be played at church. That’s a whole different topic that really gets some people fired up. Instead, I want to focus on the top 5 reasons I believe we should listen to Christian music wherever you are:

1. Lyrics get stuck in our heads.

It’s just a fact that music gets stuck in our heads, whether intentional or not. How many times have you heard a jingle, theme song, or a song that someone else was singing only to be singing it to yourself later?! Because of this, the lyrics to the songs we listen to DO matter. What do you want to repeatedly hear throughout the day? Something based off a lie/ungodly/dirty or something that can remind you of biblical truths?

It just makes sense to choose songs that will remind you of who God is and who you are in order to prepare you to live for Him. Our thoughts affect our actions so we need godly thoughts in our head which will come from godly music.

Listening to Christian music in the car is important because the last thing you listen in the car is probably going to stick in your head more than a song played much earlier in the day.

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

2. Christian music renews our mind.

This reason is especially why it’s important to listen to Christian music throughout the day.

In our fast-paced busy lives, we get caught up in whatever we’re doing. We’re distracted and our mind, emotions, and desires are focused on ourselves. We get impatient with the car going too slow. We feel mad at a text we just read. We are late again and beating ourselves up thinking we can never do anything right…then we turn on the Christian radio/our own playlist and suddenly our heart changes. We become patient. We are reminded to be forgiving and full of grace. We hear of God’s mercies and never ending kindness despite our faults.

God uses music to encourage us when we need it most. He uses the songs of salvation reminding us just how grateful we are to be redeemed. He uses songs to reveal hidden sin in our life. And He uses music to draw us to our knees while reminding us how to live.

I absolutely love God’s sovereignty.

I love how I hear a specific song with a specific truth exactly when I need to…and I know many people feel that way. He can teach you using anything because He’s God and we have the Holy Spirit but listening to Christian music helps to set the stage.

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

3. We’re called to put off our old self, which may include old music!

That includes all of our old favorites if they’re contrary to Scripture.

I know some people believe you should only listen to Christian music and to stay away from all other music. I’m not here to add to that debate except to say that we are called to do all things for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). And we’re called to put off our old selves.

Ephesians 4:22-24 …put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 6:6-14 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

If our old self was crucified…and we’re called to live differently than before…and if we’re called to do all things for the glory of God…while not presenting ourselves to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, then it just makes sense to listen to music that causes is to do these things.

4. Christian music has good lyrics for your kids (or anyone else around) to hear

We are called to bring up our children in godliness. And let’s just admit that we won’t be doing that by letting them listen to the most popular radio station. As a former teacher, I can tell you with certainty that kids repeat the songs they hear…no matter how young they are or how disgusting the lyrics are. What we listen to truly does matter.

This doesn’t have to be restrictive but exciting. What godly songs and truths do you want your child to hear today!? Choose a playlist based on what’s going on in their lives. Choose artists you know they’ll enjoy. Christian music benefits everyone around, not just you.

Ps. This applies to work music too… if you’re allowed to listen to music at work and have the ability to control what kind of music it is. What a great ministry opportunity!

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Deuteronomy 11:19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

5. The Bible tells us to! See for yourself…

Psalm 30:4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

Psalm 150:1-5 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

It can’t get any clearer than that and I just love that we aren’t restricted to quietly singing in a quiet voice with quiet instruments. Nope, we’re told to praise Him using loud instruments out of genuine gratitude and awe. There are many more verses which tell us to sing songs of praise to the Lord!

I pray you see the importance of listening to Christian music! I can’t even begin to list favorites I have, but what are yours?

On a Side Note

While writing this blog post, I came across others who believed we should NOT listen to contemporary Christian music. The reasons were mainly personal preference (I mean I really don’t care if the songs are “knock offs” from mainstream melodies. I’m not listening for the creative artistic aspect…I’m listening for all the reasons listed above).

But there was one valid point that has stuck in my head. One man said that many of the songs are about us and not about God. At first I was hesitant to believe it but after listening to the radio the next day, I quickly realized it was true. However, some of the songs point back to Christ. The majority of the songs might not be praising God by stating all of God’s characteristics but they are praising God because of His love and what He says about us or how He’s always there for us. It reminds me of the Psalms…reflecting on life situations and then praising God or calling out to Him. But that gentleman is right…if the “Christian” song is not pointing back to Christ or even mentioning God at all but is just a feel good message, then don’t listen. Many of the songs are actually preaching messages contradictory to what the Bible teaches. But not all of them do. We do need to make sure we are not focusing on ourselves but instead throwing our hands up in surrender and praise.

One other comment I saw was that the music doesn’t teach very good theology. As mentioned before, there will be some songs with bad theology…just like there are some Christian books that aren’t biblical, some churches, some people. The Bible says that will happen. But that doesn’t mean we have to abstain from all Christian music…just like we wouldn’t stay away from church because somewhere in the world is a bad preacher. The music should not be used to teach you theology by itself. Reading the Word of God and going to a church that holds the Word as the final authority should be where we learn our theology. Instead, it is meant to encourage you and draw you to praising God. If you come across a song that you know doesn’t match Scripture, then change the song! (And pray for the singer as well as people who heard the song.) If a song isn’t mentioning God at all but is basically just a positive song, then it is not a Christian song and probably does go against Scripture.

But there are so many songs that glorify God and are biblical. Find those, and sing praises to our King.

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