One day I was listening to a song from one of my favorite secular artists expressing their battle through abuse and depression and that song moved me to the point that I couldn’t hold in my tears. I was so moved about the journey that my God had brought me through and thankful of where it had brought me. I took my time soaking in the words as I worshipped my God, letting it really wash over me it evoked a lot of difficult and beautiful feelings for me. It was real, it was overwhelming and it encapsulated the feelings in my own heart that so often aren’t talked about let alone sang about in the Christian community. I worshipped my God through a secular song. (Good Lord! What did she say??)

It gave me solace in knowing I was not alone, not just because this artist created something from their pain that I could relate to, but also because it gave me the opportunity to worship God through my life and connection to this experience through a song. A song. And a secular one at that.

I am a Jesus fanatic. I love him with my whole heart, and I feel like I need to preface this by saying that I am not telling you that you shouldn’t listen to Christian artists or enjoy other Christian arts. But I am saying that if the Christian art genre doesn’t move you in very real ways, that it may not be helping you in your worshipping journey. Listening and seeing what most often are regurgitations of the same generic thoughts many other Christian artists are using (obviously with some exceptions), may actually be hindering us from putting our whole hearts into a very important thing. Let’s not forget other mediums that we experience either. I’m talking movies, novels, poetry, visual art, theatre and any other form of artistic expression. Because who says worship is only when you sing and pray!

The thing is, Christian art doesn’t connect with the real battles that we face. There I said it — Christian art isn’t being honest with what we are experiencing. Real people struggle and go through hard things. People mess up big time and frequently! Life is weird and unpredictable and has a vast amount of random events and more often than not they aren’t being touched on or captured in the Christian art scene, with the exception of a few. We really need art that expresses the diversity of experiences we all go through. Good and bad!

We have Christian living set to such a high standard but never acknowledge that in living a Christian life, we are going to encounter a number of different cultural things— ahem... pop-culture. And just because they aren’t labeled as Christian doesn’t mean we can’t embrace what they may help us experience.

God can and does use everything around us to bring us back to Him. There are an infinite amount of events and experiences that can happen in our lives that can be used to glorify God. Why do we often skim over the idea of using what is literally all around us as an opportunity to lift Him up and let it impact our lives?

Now, I understand that some people struggle with certain music or movies that just don’t help them or encourage them with this journey they have in their life with Christ and I am definitely not saying to those people that they are doing the wrong thing. Everyone has personal struggles and limitations. So please don’t take what I’m saying as me telling you “Don’t appreciate Christian art because it’s poopy and doesn’t really help you worship God!” Because that’s absolutely not what I’m trying to get at.

Am I saying you should go see an R rated movie with rampant sex and nudity just because you can say you’re able to worship through the artistic expression of the creators? No. What I am saying is to use your best judgement and to know what helps you to be brought back to Christ in the culture you consume, whether Christian or secular, and allow God to work in your hearts and minds with the unlimited amount of creative resources we have before us.

Read poetry that makes you overwhelmed, watch beautiful movies, indulge in expression that makes you feel deeply, view art that makes you uncomfortable, wonder about the world, listen to music that makes you cry or makes you want to dance — do those things knowing they are opportunities to experience God and to worship and glorify Him.