Priorities

Life is all about priorities. There are any number of things you can do with your life. People who are talented in music or art, for example, many times make it their life, and at some point make it their goal in life to be the best at that one thing or do nothing else other than that. They even say, "Music is my life," or, "My art is my life." But life is not all about what you do a living or all about developing that one talent. Music is not your life, and art is not your life. And neither of them is "all there is." I got into a pretty lengthy back-and-forth on Facebook a few years back when I said that music was not "all there is," because a famous rock musician had said, "That's all there is." Well, this person had already left this world, so it would be interesting to know what he would have to say about that now. I bet he found out that music is not "all there is." The people in the world who have no interest in God replace God with something else. They may replace God with music or art or whatever else it is that they love. The only problem with that is these things are not God. Only God is God, and, therefore, these things will eventually let the person down who puts their trust in them, but try to convince someone of that, and you won't succeed, because these things actually have power to control a person. They can even act like an addiction. I like to think about these things as "loves that don't love back." Only the source of love can love back. And the things that people use to replace God are false gods that do not have any life of their own. When I was in Nashville, the former wife a Hall of Fame Songwriter said to me, "There are other things to do besides music." I didn't want to hear that, of course, but I never forgot those words, and, later on, I found out they were true. Writing this is a little bit of a struggle because I don't want to sound like I'm judging anyone, because I'm not. I completely understand that because I lived it. I didn't live it long enough for it to take me down, and I'm not saying it takes everybody down because it doesn't, but eventually, people come up empty and search for the real source of life. Once upon a time I thought I had the tiger by the tail. I was the happiest I had ever been. I was making a living playing music. I even said, "Music is my life." But I found out it wasn't my life. It was what I loved to do, but it wasn't my life. I know I'm not going to convince anyone of anything, because everybody has to find this out for themselves, but God is pursuing people like a jealous lover. I had been pursuing painting for a couple of years at the university and I got the chance to go play music and I chose it. It seemed more immediate or more direct somehow than being in a studio working on art. Also, I got paid every week. But, there was a time when I found out something on the inside needed to change before I could get my life on track. It became a priority. I didn't know what to call it at the time, but my heart wasn't right with God. I was living my life apart from God. The only thing is, they are not always as happy as they appear. I don't know how else to say it. Then in come the addictions or the depression, the broken relationships or whatever causes people to want to end their lives. Let's just get that out there. There are forces in the world for destruction and anyone who commits suicide has fallen victim to something evil, anyone who has become drug addicted has fallen victim to something evil. Many might say, "Well, I'm not there, so I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing." That is your choice. This is just my story. One night I had smoked a little weed, but someone had given me a little Gideon's New Testament and Psalms and I cracked it open and it said, "...that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine..." (Ephesians 4:14) and I knew God was speaking to me from his word. Maybe you never wanted God. I always knew I wanted God, but I didn't know how to get to God, but God knew how to get to me, and that is all I want to say. Amazing things happen in a life when a person decides to make God the main priority. The other things will take their place in time because God wants you to be in eternity with Him, not trapped in the false things of this world and spend eternity without God. That would be the worst fate there is. And I'm just going to leave it right there. .