As professing Christians, the music we choose to listen to can have an adverse effect on us with regard to our walk with, and witness for, Jesus Christ.

Listening to music can be a somewhat passive, sedative, and even thoughtless activity and, as such, is often regarded by the vast majority of people as a relatively harmless exercise. Nevertheless, regardless of the genre, music can be a spiritual tool the enemy uses to draw believers into a state of dullness, apathy, and indifference about the things of God which, consequently, can impede our spiritual growth (Col. 1:10; 1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:18). As the seventeenth-century Puritan, William Spurstowe (1605-1666), warns in his book The Wiles of Satan, 

Satan is wholly bent to evil, and makes it his only study to dive and search into men so that he may better fasten his temptations upon them. . . . He does not go forward a step without noting every man’s estate, temper, age, calling, and company so that he may with greater advantage tempt to evil, and thereby bring men into the same misery and condition as himself.[4]

Music, not unlike other forms of stimulative media, is not merely a static proposition. What I mean by that is that the music we choose to listen to never only enters our ears and that is as far as it goes. It is also through our ears that music and the messages it conveys, for better or worse, enters our mind and, ultimately, our heart.

There is a dimensional relationship between the music we listen to and its effect on our mind and heart (1 Sam. 16:23; Ps. 71:23; Prov. 25:20; 1 Cor. 14:15). That is why biblical discernment is so very crucial when determining what type of music, if any, we choose to allow into those areas of our being (Phil. 1:9-10). As Dr. Burk Parsons, senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, writes in the July 2017 issue of Tabletalk magazine,

Entertainment affects our minds, our homes, our culture, and our churches. Consequently, we must be vigilant as we use discernment in how we enjoy entertainment—looking to the light of God’s Word to guide us and inform our consciences. Entertainment isn’t evil in itself, and we can enjoy it as we remember that in whatever we do, our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever as we live coram Deo, before the face of our omniscient and gracious God.[1]

In Phil. 4:8 (NASB), the apostle Paul exhorts believers to dwell only on those things that are “excellent and worthy of praise.” The Greek verb “dwell” (λογίζομαι)[2] implies a deliberate and purposeful focusing of the mind on those things that are (or aren’t) deemed “worthy” in God’s estimation. I repeat—in God’s estimation—which is to say, in God’s judgment, which, ultimately, is all that should matter to any professing believer in Christ (Rom. 12:2; Gal. 6:14). 

So, as followers of Christ, the question you and I must ask ourselves is: Is the music I’m choosing to allow into my ears, and thus my mind and heart, considered “worthy” in light of the character of the God in whom I profess to believe and obey (Lk. 6:46)? Consider that question against the backdrop of what songwriter Bob Kauflin says in the book Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World,

What does music have to do with worldliness? To answer that question, we have to ask a few more. What motivates us to like the music we do? Is music entirely neutral? Why does music affect us so deeply? Does the music I listen to affect my thoughts or behavior in any way? Does it say anything about my relationship with God? Most important, are my music choices consistent with the gospel that has saved me? If these questions don’t seem important, think again. Music can be more dangerous than most of us realize. It has the potential to harden our hearts and weaken our faith. In fact, a wise Christian understands that listening to music without discernment and godly intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world.[3]

Scripture teaches that all good gifts come from God (Eccl. 2:24-25; 1 Tim. 6:17b), and music is one of God’s good gifts. In Ephesians 5:19, the apostle Paul encourages believers to engage in “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”

Sadly, however, many professing Christians today view music as an idol, a kind of innocuous “golden calf” that they serve and worship, perhaps unknowingly, and and do not wish to part with (Ex. 32:4). But as those who have been spiritually reborn in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 2:20), we must not carry on as if music, or any other medium of entertainment in which we engage, is a separate area of our life in which God’s Word does not apply. As Dr. Joel R. Beeke writes in his book Puritan Reformed Theology: Historical, Experiential, and Practical Studies for the Whole of Life:

Positively speaking, a believer must “endeavor to have a heart marked by modesty [and] purity” (Matt. 5:8) and to be “chaste in all his actions” (2 Cor. 7:1). The Christian must always keep watch, knowing that “we carry the seed of uncleanness within.” He must especially guard his eyes and ears against “all occasions which would stimulate his sins.”  

God’s people are to have a biblical worldview about everything in life, and the music we listen to is no exception. Music is a gift of God’s common grace that His people are to enjoy for His glory and our edification and (Ps. 105:2). That is the case regardless of whether the music we listen to is secular, ecclesiastical, cultural, or liturgical.  

“. . . so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” – 1 Cor. 2:11(NASB)

In Christ’s service to you,

Darrell

[1] https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2017/07/discerning-entertainment/

[2] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3049/nasb95/tr/0-1/  

[3] pp. 70-71, hardcover, Crossway (2008).

4. pp. 23-24, hardcover, Soli Deo Gloria Publications (2004)