1 Corinthians 12:12-26
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
With that being said, I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for a few years now and it relates to indie gospel artist and local gospel groups. It seems to be that we would be on the same team, but we are divided like oil and water - we are afraid to mix. Its that same old crab barrell mentality. Why is this?
I surf facebook quite often and some of the comments I read by independent gospel artist really surprise me. What do we gain by putting others down? It pushes us no further in life or our career than we already are. In fact, according to scripture, if you sow hate you will reap hate. I would much rather see my brother or sister elevated as oppose to bashing them in hopes to make myself look wonderful. What are we gaining? I wish I could see groups come together and just worship God. We should try to complete each other and not compete with each other. God gets glory when we come together. Ok let me throw out some examples here for a minute.
WhenI was a young kid my favorite artist in Sumter (can you believe that we actually have artist here!!!!!) was Shonda English. I came across her music by accident at my uncles house and I fell in-love with the sound. If Shonda never supports me (and she does) I would still support her because I genuinly love her music and who she is. Let me tell you what other artist we have here: The Singing Angels, The Abrams, Kenny Burroughs, Kenny Issac and Deliverance, Deacon Burgess, Kimberly Rose, Frankie Smalls, the Sumter Violinares, the New Boys, Blue Print Deciples, the Watchmen, and this doesn't even include the other artist in the surrounding cities. But what I have found is that everyone wants to be an island to themselves. (Thats not a personal attack.) Its a true statement. If you look at this list you will find that most of these groups are quartet because Sumter is a quartet city. We are quartet all day and proud of it. I sing praise and worship and quartet, but at heart I am quartet all day. It disturbed me when a few weeks ago I read a comment on facebook from a quarteter bashing or poking fun at other quartet singers(I'm not gonna say what the person said because that would give place to the devil and that's not what this is about). That divides the body. Why? Quartet already gets a bad rap and when someone is causing dessension from within it destroys what everyone else is trying to do. Is that unity? Now this individual probably feels justified and their statement could have truth to it, but is facebook the platform for that? Why not have a "Meeting of the Minds" to discuss any issues or concerns? Will it take away from their busy musical careers? People sit behind their computers and throw slams at other artist and groups and that is not cool. This kind of individual is a thorn plant choking the life out of the good seeds that God is planting.
I want to repent if I have ever made anyone feel like they were less than or what they were doing is not important. I'm all about love and unity. If I kill you then I will soon die as well.
Part2 coming soon!!!!!!!!!!! Feel free to leave comments.
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