By Rob Link

The music industry in the United States generated $15 billion in 2012. The global music industry generated $50 billion that year.

That’s a lot of money.

People pay big bucks to sing along with their favorite tunes. Most of us happily contribute to this multi-billion dollar business. We love songs and we love to sing along (though for some this is only true as long as no one else can hear!).

What if all that singing is a reflection of something deeper? What if it points to a reality that all of us were made to praise the King of kings? Maybe we sing along with Justin Timberlake or Taylor Swift or Drake in a subconscious effort to meet our inborn need to praise.

Here are three facts:

1. We were made to praise.
2. Singing along with Justin, Taylor, Drake, and their cohorts will never satiate our God-given—albeit subconscious, for many—need to worship.
3. God is much more worthy of our voices raised in song than the topics on the pop chart.

Here is a suggestion: Let’s take our love of song and direct it solely to the coming of Jesus this Advent. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen” (vv. 18-19).

Let’s put aside our favorite pop culture stuff for the season and bust out the worship tunes. Let’s set aside the norm and embrace the carols. Just for a month—only worship and Christmas tunes.

I think I’ll give it a try this Advent. Would you like to join me?

Prayer: God of wondrous things, may the wonder of Christ’s coming, as told by hundreds of writers in hundreds of songs, fill our hearts and mouths again these days.

Rob Link is pastor of The River in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 2016 Advent devotions were written by RCA church planters and parent churches.