Music — Blog — Glenn E. Pearson

Among the cool things about our little mountain town is the Wrightwood Blues Society. At a recent open mic event, I was with the band onstage when a female vocalist asked if she could to come up and sing soul artist James Brown’s famous song “I Feel Good” – you know, “I feel good (bah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah) I knew that I would (bah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah).” Although I know the song well, I had never played it. Did I really want risk public humiliation by attempting an unrehearsed number?

I don’t want to geek out too much on how harmonicas are set up, but I have to explain what a quirky instrument it is. There are twelve notes in the chromatic scale, but the lower octave of the small harps I play only have 5 of the twelve. That creates a real challenge when attempting a new song. Given how many notes a harmonica DOESN’T have, some songs with lots of “accidental notes” (the black keys on a piano) typically require careful planning and trial and error to play on harmonica. I don’t recommend doing that live onstage.

Fortunately, “I Feel Good” is pretty straight-forward and I instinctively knew it would work. Everything fell into place, and our rendition was a hit.

My confidence in moving forward required three things:

Willingness to respond to a spontaneous opportunity, even in light of possible high-profile failure
Enough familiarity with the material – that is, that particular song – to know if it would fit
Enough “muscle memory” concerning the instrument to pull it off

As I later thought about that event I saw interesting parallels with the Christian life. As much as we like predictability, life has a way of bringing new circumstance – some positive and some negative – our way. Just like I had to decide whether to try a new song in a potentially risky situation, we regularly face circumstances which force to us to decide if we will step out and trust God or back away.

If you are serious about your faith, you will regularly study God’s instructions to us that as revealed in the Bible and through mature Christians. As you “spiritual muscle memory” develops, you will instinctively know certain things – cheating on your spouse, lying to your boss, ignoring a friend’s needs, hoarding your money, gossiping, and many other things – are wrong. You don’t have to think or pray about them, but you will instead have deep convictions about what the right thing to do is.

So here are some takeaways:

Acknowledge that every one of us has a dark side. No lesser person than Jesus himself said that from the human heart come sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly (Mark 7:20-23). Never forget that.
But recognize that if you have gone to Jesus to have your sins forgiven, you are a new person (2 Corinthians 5:18) and have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). This is not to say you are infallible, but as you continue in a faithful relationship with Jesus, your muscle memory concerning right and wrong will grow.

We use the phrase “second nature” to describe practices that are so ingrained that they are practically automatic. Second Nature Productions in the name of my little music and writing ministry. Beyond its reference to the fact through the new birth we have a new (or second) nature, it also alludes to our continued transformation so that our godly responses become “second nature.” My playing “I Feel Good” was second nature. You desire to act in ways that please God should progressively become second nature to you.

None of this is to say you don’t have to pray for God’s wisdom in your daily circumstances, but as you increasingly respond to God’s leading and new opportunities, I hope you can instinctively say, “I feel good” about where I am with the Lord and where he is leading me.