This same principle applies to any ministry, including music ministry. Is it important to be sharing the right message? Yes. Is it important to be singing the right kind of music? Of course it is. But even if the message is clear and the music is right;  even if the technique is perfected and the octavo well-rehearsed and prepared, if the messenger is marred, it will spoil the message, no matter how good of a message it is.

While choir practice is as important to the choir member as studying is to the preacher, I do not believe the best preparation for a song is in the choir room at choir practice. The best preparation for a song is in the closet, on our knees. While it is highly important to know our music and sharpen our tools of music ministry, it is of utmost importance that we understand that the real message of our ministry will not come through the “performance of an hour,” but through the “outflow of a life.”

I washed my cup out thoroughly. I used soap and removed all of the elements that spoiled the taste. I refilled it from the same source of fresh water. And then I was refreshed and helped by the pure, clean water. Let’s be sure our “cups” are clean so that the pure message of God may effectively flow through our lives at all times, and then from our lips on Sunday morning! “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7