From the Word

In Matthew 21, Jesus approaches a fig tree that from a distance looks like it would have fruit for Him to eat. There are leaves on the tree but as Jesus gets up to the tree He sees no fruit. He curses the fig tree and immediately it withers. How many times do we look good from a distance or on the outside but internally we are a mess. There is another scripture illustration of this in Matthew 23. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. He tells them, "You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside you are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." To be very honest, I do not like looking at these passages. It is far easier to just sing our songs or do what looks like a "flawless" performance and not even deal with the inside, but to be alive in our work for Christ, we must be willing to take stock and evaluate where our heart is. The inside is where the ministry takes place. The inside is what sets us apart from the world. The inside is what God is most concerned about.

In Revelation 3, the letter to the church at Sardis tells them to "Wake Up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have NOT found your deeds complete in the sight of my God." There is hope. We are not totally dead yet. If we are willing to ask the hard questions and look deep inside to see our heart how God sees it, we can salvage our work. We must also realize that without God, our deeds can never be complete. If we want our work to matter, God must be at the center and our hearts must be fully devoted to Him.

It is very easy to look alive on the outside, after all we musicians have been trained to put on a show. We have learned the art of performance, but more importantly, we must learn the HEART of performance. Without the heart we are nothing but hollow shells that pretend to be real.