Contemporary Christian Music

Just last year, I was convicted by the Lord that I should stop listening to the filth that is secular music. Consequently, I began building up a library of Christian music, most of it contemporary, with the likes of Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Paul Baloche, Paul Wilbur, and even Hillsong.

What I then noticed was that much of the songs from some, not all, of these artistes weren’t that Christian, to the point where it was more about “me” rather than the Lord Jesus Christ, or even if there was a reference to God, He was referred to as “He”, “Him”, or even the generic “You” and not specifically.

Worse yet, there were songs which seemed to suggest that the Lord Jesus Christ is our “homeboy”, “boyfriend” and even some needy, lonely man who needs our companionship.

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I’m not one of those stiff-necked folks who insist that only hymns are proper worship songs, but given the fact that there’s actually a plethora of bad Christian music out there nowadays, I still prefer hymns to contemporary Christian music (CCM).

There’s just something majestic and magnifying of the Lord in hymns, unlike bad CCM that harp about “what I want from God” or worse, not mentioning God at all in the lyrics.

As you can probably guess by now, lately I’ve been harking back to hymns after having listened to CCM for awhile. Perhaps it’s a ‘grass is greener on the other side’ phenomenon, but for most of my time in a church it was in one that only sings hymns, and not CCM.

The only reason I started listening to CCM was that I was younger then and needed a beat. I mean, if you’re a teenager who’s listening to Run D.M.C. and Bon Jovi on normal days and had to go with the slow solemn hymns on Sunday, you would not have any interest in the latter.

So, perhaps it’s also because I’m older now and (hopefully) more matured as a Christian, I have a new-found appreciation for hymns, especially those sung by a good church choir.

Here’s one I found recently that I particularly like titled Worthy of Praise — it’s from the church choir of a church that I plan on visiting on Sunday.

Of late, I’ve also thought much about going back to my Bible-Presbyterian roots, hence the planned visit. Sure, I don’t agree with infant baptism, and the KJV-only stance, but it’s a Biblical church and teaches sound doctrine.

Not to mention a great choir and mmm… hymns!

If you liked Worthy of Praise, take a listen to the hymn Trusting Jesus too.

Soli deo Gloria!

Source: All hymns linked in this post are sung by the Calvary Pandan Church Choir. Photograph of the Calvary Pandan Church Choir taken from the Calvary Pandan Church web site.