Speaking To Yourselves in Spiritual Songs

^{(NIV)Hebrews 10:24} And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…

^{(CEB) Col 316} The word of Christ must live in you richly. Teach and warn each other with all wisdom by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

This is a blog about “digging a little deeper.” I look for articles that begin with scripture and offer something beyond the superficial or shallow. I often recommend authors who “go deep.” Sometimes I borrow an HTML computer term and talk about “rich text.” There are only so many hours in the day, and I want to spend my devotional or Bible-study time with something that really sparks my thoughts. You can begin the day with your Our Daily Bread devotional booklet and your morning coffee, but hopefully that’s not the end of your meditating on God’s word for the day.

While some people consider the popular, contemporary Christian music — and by that I’m not referring to the modern worship genre — to be a little shallow. But there are songs that challenge us to deeper commitment. As we “speak” these songs to one another through video sharing, playing music as we drive somewhere, pre-service music on the sound system at church, background music as we cook dinner; we should naturally gravitate to the songs that take us a little deeper; the songs born out of rich text.

Case in point: Sidewalk Prophets “Live Like That”

Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true

People pass
And even if they don’t know my name
Is there evidence that I’ve been changed
When they see me, do they see You

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

Case in point: Matthew West “Motions” (I’ve written about this song before!)

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking,
“What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?”

Case in Point: Lincoln Brewster “Love The Lord” (My wife mentioned today how she loves the fact this is straight scripture.)

Love the Lord your God
With all your heart, with all your soul
With all your mind, and with all your strength.

Case in Point: Danniebelle “Work The Works” (a classic song from the early Jesus Music days we just added to our YouTube project; also straight scripture; this is how I originally learned this Bible story.)

One day Jesus saw a blind man sitting by the wayside
His disciples asked him, ‘Master who did sin?’
He said, “Neither this man, nor his parents,
But that the works of God might be manifest in Him”

I must work the works of Him, who sent me while it is day
For when the night is come the time for works will be done away.
Would you be willing to work for Jesus any time and every day?
He’ll reward you when He comes to take His bride away.

Let’s not minimize the gift of music God has given to us individually, and to the Church at large.

The Story of Your Life Continues…

Years ago, a musician I stayed with in California played an original song to gospel legend Andrae Crouch to see how we would evaluate it.  Crouch like the song, but said there were too many musical and lyrical ideas in it, telling the young writer, “You’ve actually got enough there for three songs.”

Yesterday, I was tempted to add a video clip to Lee Grady’s thoughts, but I decided to hold it for today, partly in light of Crouch’s warnings to avoid packing too much into a single song (or blog post!) and partly because Steve Green’s song is such a great way to end 2011.

This isn’t my all-time favorite song, or style, but when Green or anyone else is taking their lyrics directly from scripture it creates something bigger than the song itself.  Last night I asked my kids if they can tell when, in the middle of devotional book we’re reading, the paragraph moves into a Bible quotation, and they both understood exactly where I was going with this question.  There’s something about the power of God’s word that is so easily identified; it stands out from what the devotional writer is saying as though it was underlined, in bold face type, in giant print, or printed in bright orange. 

The verse in question is Philippians 1:6, but I’ll give you the verses that precede and follow for full context:

^{Phil 1:5(NIV)} because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.

I don’t what you or I are facing in 2012, but we are each, in God’s eyes, a work in progress. And he doesn’t abandon his projects.

All God’s best for the new year.

Mission Statement: Christianity 201 is a melting-pot of devotional and Bible study content from across the widest range of the Christian blogosphere.  An individual article may be posted even if some or all readers might not agree with other things posted at the same blog, and two posts may follow on consecutive days by authors with very different doctrinal perspectives.  The Kingdom of God is so much bigger than the small portion of it we can see from our personal vantage point, and one of the purposes of C201 is to allow readers a ‘macro’ view of the many ministries and individual voices available for reading.

He Will Not Let You Fall

I had the weirdest experience last night.

I was driving through some rather remote roads late at night to pick up my youngest son from a youth event at a Christian camp. All the time I was thinking of a really old Psalms Alive song, “He Will Not Let You Fall.”

So I went on YouTube just for fun to see if someone had posted the audio, and there it was. I started listening only to notice I was only the second person to ever view it. Hmmm. That’s odd.

I glanced down at the post date: April 30, 2010.

Timing is everything. Kinda fits the song, doesn’t it?

I look up to the mountains
To the hills I turn my eyes
Who will come to help me?
Can I find a place to hide?

The one who made the heavens
And the earth will hear my call
The Lord will come to help me
And He will not let me fall