About Artists 3 (Artists are COMPETITIVE!)

Artists are: COMPETITIVE!

I believe this is another great example of a God-given, God-designed character trait that is meant to serve those who serve God, rather than be served by His servants for self-serving aspirations.  Being competitive when it comes to the things of God is a natural asset for the servant that seeks to be aggressive in defending the faith and leading the army into battle against the enemy.  There is no competition between God and the devil.  God won, it’s over.  However, there still exists a competition in the world for the hearts of men between the power that would deliver men into bondage, and the anointing that breaks every yoke of bondage.  Jude 1:3 speaks of that competition, when we are encouraged to “contend for the faith”, because there is an enemy to the Word of God in this world.

But competing with one another is not the idea.  The notion of Christian artists competing against each other is absurd.  It’s like watching players on the same team in any sporting event competing against each other, instead of the other team.  It’s a bizarre, ridiculous and totally self-defeating concept.  Yet it happens all the time.

Be aggressive.  Be competitive.  Compete against complacency in the church.  Compete for the attention of the lost against the very best the world has to offer them.  Gone are the days when a chorus of ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’ can minister to the heart of a 14-year old whose been raised on MTV9, ipods and myspace, or a 35 year-old who’s been exposed to the best production values that Nashville can export.  It’s time to wake up and smell the tombstones.  People are dying and going to hell every day and musicians and singers still think that it’s okay to stand by the old adage “It’s good enough for gospel”, or “It’s just church”.  It’s NOT good enough, not in 2010, and we have to get aggressive and start competing for the right things.  Media corporations have Christian artists competing for airplay and shelf space, taking them out of the church and fostering an environment where artists have to be competitive because if we’re not, someone else might get the recognition and draw bigger crowds and sell more t-shirts.  Let’s remember what recognition is for, and let’s decide to use our unique talent to contend for the faith.