IS THIS GOOD ENOUGH?

Playing my clarinet professionally is very different from playing in a volunteer, mostly amateur church orchestra, and God has taught me a whole lot about myself and Him through all of it. Professionally, if you make a mistake it could cost you a job. That's not the case in our church orchestra of course, but it's hard not to import a professional mindset into the sanctuary. Questions arise like, "Does God accept and enjoy our playing if there are mistakes?" I was thinking about that a couple Sundays ago while I was playing in the service. Then I started thinking about the people in the congregation and how they were singing. A typical congregation in a typical church is not the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. Does God accept their praise? "Of course!" I thought. That's when conviction came and God was able to teach me a little more about myself and Him. At the foundational level, there is pride at work in my heart. The perfectionist mindset is a lie. The lie goes like this, "Unless you (or your performance) are perfect you are not acceptable." Actually, I think this is a half-lie the enemy loves to tell. The whole purpose of God giving the Law was to show us that our attempts to live a holy life were not acceptable, not good enough. But if you stop there, you are left with utter desolation. Turn the coin over and look at the amazing grace of what God has done with our desolation and depravity - "God demonstrates His own love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

So God is omnisciently aware of all our shortcomings, mistakes....sins. He Himself has provided an answer, a path of salvation. And if God didn't turn His back on us in our sin, why would He turn His back on us when we offer Him our heartfelt, albeit imperfect, praise?

"But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." Psalm 22:3

"Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; praise is becoming to the upright." Psalm 33:1