To begin my weekly posts about finding the right music that pleases God, I would like to talk about finding the right kind of songs, minus the artist.  What I am about to say may be somewhat controversial.  If you disagree and want to share your opinion, then leave a comment.  I don't mind at all.

Unless you have a personal conviction to stay away from secular music in general, then I believe that you can sort through secular music with an open mind, and find songs and artists within the secular media that do not turn away from the guidelines set into place by Philippians 4:8, which paraphrased says: Everything that you think about should be true, right, honorable, pure, lovely, excellent, and worthy of praise. 

In other words, there should not be a deceitful or wrong message in the lyrics of your selected song, and the message should be honorable (so random sex, drugs, and clubbing should be out of the picture).  The song should be pure- or innocent- so if it is going corrupt your thoughts, it needs to go.  Lovely and excellent: a song that goes like this (and I'm making this up as I go along), "I want to die, I want to scream, I always kill you in my dreams..." probably isn't a good choice.  And finally, the song needs to be worthy of praise.  This doesn't necessarily mean that it is has to be a praise song, but it should be a song that you can praise to others and say, "Hey, I like this," without feeling a twinge of shame at the truth behind the junk you're shoving into your ears. 

While I am talking about specific songs, without any regard to the music artist behind them, you may feel the conviction to judge the music you listen to by more than just the song itself.  You may not feel comfortable judging a song by only its lyrics without including the person or band who performs it, and that is okay too.  On Saturday, I will be including the artist in my search to find the "right" music, but during the next few days, I will be looking at each specific song's message, without any influence from its artist or the other songs in the album.

Now that we have our guidelines, I would like to divide the different types of secular songs into four different categories:
1. The Good Song
2. The Neutral Song
3. The Almost Good With A Tiny Bit of Bad Mixed In Song
4. The Bad Song

Every day for the next few days, I'm going to talk about each category of song, list a few examples, and then ask you to challenge yourself: do you believe that it is okay for you to put this into your mind and into your heart?  I'm going to try (and I emphasize on try) not to preach at you and tell you what is right and what is wrong.  It is ultimately up to you to decide what you will listen to when it comes to music.  Music is a huge passion of mine, and I want to give you the facts so that you can choose for yourself what you believe to fit the guidelines of Philippians 4:8. 

 Be sure to tune in tomorrow to read my opinion on "The Good Song."  If you have something you would like to say about today's post, then leave me a comment or send me an email here.  Your feedback encourages me!  I took today's picture from here.     

I am one of those people who loves music.  It doesn't matter what genre, what artist... so long as it sounds good, I will thrive in it.  This passion of mine can sometimes be my downfall.  It can be hard to not want to listen to the secular artists with amazing sounds, but terrible messages.  However, when I stop and listen to the actual words of a song, I suddenly realize the anti-Christian message that I have been pushing into my mind all along.  These song are pleasing to the ear... they make you want to jump up and dance.  But are they healthy to our spiritual walk with Jesus? 

Philippians 4:8, NLT, says, "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." 

There are times when I have to sit back and ask myself, "Is what I am listening to honorable?  Is this song pure and admirable?  Is there truth in these lyrics?"  If the answers to any of these questions are no, then it is definitely time to begin to clean out what has piled up on my Pandora channel and my iTunes. 

Every Saturday starting with next week, I am going to write a review on a popular secular artist.  I will give you my opinion on whether their songs follow the example of Philippians 4:8.  I will use examples of their song lyrics, their lifestyles, and their personal quotations.  I will also share Bible verses that contradict what this featured artist is promoting.  I hope that not every secular artist that I feature will fail my Bible litmus test.  However, I do fear that there are artists who will fail horribly... and some of these I probably listen to on a weekly basis. 

Then, on the following Sunday, I will write a review on an admirable Christian artist who has a similar style, good music, and shares lyrics that follow the guidelines of Philippians 4:8. 

What I am trying to do will help me improve my personal choice of songs, and it will hopefully give you a glimpse of the truth behind what you might be playing into your ears.  I hope to encourage you to strengthen your spiritual walk with the Lord by only putting admirable things into your head.  

To do this, however, I would like your help.  If you have an opinion- agreement or disagreement- on what I write about an artist, then tell me.  If you would like me to review an artist on this blog- secular or Christian- then ask me, and they will most likely come up in a future blog.  Feel free to comment on each blog post, or send me an email at emilytheperson@yahoo.com, and I will try to get back to you soon.

Try to prepare your hearts and minds to accept the fact that there is a chance that what you are putting into your thoughts may not be wholesome, and ask the Lord to give you the humility and the strength to realize the truth about what He wants you to hear.  Pray about the artists that you listen to, and stay tuned for next Saturday and Sunday.