A pastor at my church spoke at the evening service that I attend about the “the little things” that we let slip by. He spoke out of an obscure verse—Exodus 4:24-26—in which Moses had neglected to circumcise his son. A crime for which God was about to kill him, but his wife instead circumcises the boy with a sharp rock (ouch) then places the severed flesh at Moses’ feet. The gist of the message was that the little things that we choose to overlook will eventually kill us. A message that I wholeheartedly agree with.

Toward the end of his message, he asked that we examine ourselves to find if there were any places of our lives that we knew of in which we neglected something “small”. With all of my well disguised pride, I sat pensively considering his question. Though the monologue in my head saying “Gee, I just can’t think of anything” was much to loud to think much of anything else. Finally though, I heard an almost audible voice in my head saying, “But Bill, what about all that illegally downloaded music that you have from before you were a Christian?” I of course immediately responded, “Well that doesn’t count because of… well…” At that point it was clear that I was under conviction and if I did anything other than submit I would have been making things very uncomfortable (and dangerous) for myself. I resolved at that point to return home after the service and delete the music from my ipod.

Just as had been decided, I returned home and began at the top of the list deleting things that I didn’t own. I quickly realized that this was going to be a painful process. During the church service when the decision was made, I could only think of the music that I never really listened to. Of course when I got home, I found that much of what I was deleting was actually some of my favorite music. Uncomfortable as it was, I’m convinced that it doesn’t compare to the discomfort that would come along with refusing to do it. So in about 35 minutes I went from 13,500 songs to about 7,500 songs.

I don’t say any of this in order to make myself seem righteous, or to boast in any way. I say it for a number of other reasons.

First of all, my ipod and music collection have remained something like a stronghold for me. I’ve always thought something like, “I could give up pretty much anything… except all that music.” So for me, this is a great time to praise God for having provided the strength to do what is right, and deny myself; something that already has produced good fruit.

Secondly, I use this as a means of admonishment. In the lives of you who are reading this, there is something that you hold on to that you are under conviction for. I plead with you to relinquish it! God will provide you the strength necessary and your obedience will give God his glory, and give way to a more full and satisfying walk with the Lord.

Jesus, I pray again that you would sanctify us, your church, to bring you more glory and allow us more satisfaction in you! Get your glory, God!

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