How I attended a three hour mezmur concert and learned a life lesson
Just a week back I attended a concert by two of my favorite Christian singers of all time, Bety Wolde and Lilly Tihahun. Obvious enough I went elated and the program did not disappoint. Besides the spiritual blessings with the worship songs I learned these five lessons to Christian in ministry from a three hour service.
 
1.      Love the people you serve with

 Being a huge admirer of both singers, I probably had impaired judgment in thinking everything they did was adorable. But the inevitable fact is these two ladies love each other. Seeing them sing a duo with hand on the shoulder of the other made me think how often do we see this in church? We often see our brothers in ministry as colleagues, work mates or just partners. The love for one another is one of the biggest topics in Christ’s ministry (Rom 12:10,1Tes 4:9 and Ps 133:1). But loving our brothers in ministry has an extra bonus in that we get way more blessings as the bible says God has put blessing in a place where brothers serve together.

2.      Be skillful, do what’s on hand the best way it can be done

Some say these two don’t have the best melody line or chord progression but putting the musical jargon aside, they both have the catchiest Christian songs in Ethiopia. The bible says our ministries will be tested with fire and the hard work will shine like gold (1 Cor 3: 12-15). Witnessing the sweet hymns I had to go back and think how much of hard work was put on each of their projects. I don’t think they wrote a song overnight and went to the closest studio to record. I see long rehearsal hours, long hours to edit lyrics and time invested on biblical coherence. By the time it’s published the song was as good as delicious food ready to be eaten. I learned to be hard work not just in ministry but in all tasks one is entitled to. Take time and do it the best way. Give it all you got and at the end of the day you will feed generations as these two did.

3.      Be praise-full

I don’t know what’s going on in their individual lives. But it won’t be an exaggeration to say they are both praise-full. Praise makes you complain less. I haven’t heard a single song of sorrow that day. I believe praise has an answer to the reasons we complain about. The answers being in form of God change the reason or the complainer himself. All their songs are reflections of the life well lived, life of praise.  We all have issues that will bump our lives every now and then but being praise-full in face of it all is a character, one that comes with spiritual maturity.

4.      Have a life of devotion

As stated above I don’t know the house they go in to, the condition of their family or how their days go by. But throughout the program I haven’t seen an artist performing, I saw a Christian worship in spirit. The genuine-ness of their content will pull everybody to spirit of worship not because they shouted or made a special dance but because we all wanted to, in fact, we didn’t have an option not to. I believe this is a reflection of a life of devotion and spiritual integrity. A Christian worships no matter where. Be it on stage, attending a program or alone where no one is watching. A Christian worships, for real.

5.      Humility

The both brought the house down at the end of every song.  But to my surprise, I see them run to the back of the stage as the applause erupts. I didn’t see them in deserving spirit because they know the one who deserved all. They didn’t post fancy pictures in suit and write their names on bold to begin with.  Some ask what’s wrong with posting your picture in suit all across town. None at all, but being humble enough to give away fame for God’s glory is better.   I don’t want to come to church to see you in suit, I want to see better, the one crucified. Warning for those who stood in between the one on the cross and the believer, as they are already cursed (Gal 1:8 and 3:1).

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