I'm always very reflective on Wednesday nights after youth group. Wondering if I said things right, wondering if they heard right, wondering how many even cared to hear right. It's frustrating and freeing all at the same time to see it going on around me. So many people who have the attitude of "whatever." So self-consumed. No other world but their own. Granted, maybe I'm being a little unrealistic to think that an 11 year old would find interest in searching the deeper things of scripture, but sometimes I just feel like virtually no one GETS IT. Do you know what I mean? They just don't get it. Example:
When I'm singing worship songs to God I am constantly thinking on WHAT I am saying. The "feelings" (that so many criticize) come from the power of truth. Truths like the supremacy of Christ, the cross, the glory of God, etc. It's in those moments (and I'm in one right now as I type and think), that I wonder how anyone (even myself) can live any other way. Where is there life except in Jesus? Where is there truth except in Him?
Then I look at all those around me chasing after the vices and habits of this world. It almost sickens me. To love the flesh and the fleshly. To be trapped in a web and loving it all the while. How can we find such pleasure in selfishness and ignorance?
And so I've truly realized (beyond mental comprehension) that true FREEDOM is only found in losing affection for the world. I don't want to be in love with this world any more. It is a false hope. It is a never ending cycle of desire that must be sacrificed on the cross.
God... help us see past this world to a new Kingdom, where you reign, and justice, love, and mercy flow as streams of life.
Amen
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Glory
GLORY
I'll go ahead and admit that very little of what I think or conclude is mine. I have to steal ideas from other ideas, but even this may help prove today's point (thanks Louie).
Once upon a time there was a perfect world and a man and a woman who had EVERYTHING (literally), except one thing. And in spite of having everything except one thing, it seems that all of their attention turned away from everything to the one thing. And so Adam and Eve chose to give up everything (including perfect communion with God, which is life's ultimate completion in my estimation) for the sake of the one thing that they weren't allowed to have. Satan's temptation is interesting. He offers them something that has been haunting us ever sense: GLORY. They wanted to be like God. I think more accurately, they wanted to BE GOD. They wanted to rule all, own all, and have all under their command, at their whim.
Why are we by nature (apparently even before The Fall) so obsessed with glory? Why do we need so badly to be recognized? And, why do we need to be in control?
I think about many "big shot" musicians and actors and an almost amusing irony in their lives. They have either worked hard or caught some lucky breaks (or both) to become who they are, and ultimately their worth (not actual human/spiritual worth, but worth in terms of popularity, money, and glory) is defined by the number of fans and the response of those fans. The record companies don't make them millions. The Fans do. They buy tickets and t-shirts and MP3s and DVDs. But many times the very source of an actors' or artists' glory (the fan) is ignored as "lower-class" person. Grant it, an artists can't be expected to invest in the lives of all of their fans, but the example helps prove my point.
All that we have (even glory) is actually given by God. And yet most of us spend our entire lives lusting for more glory. Why do we climb the corporate ladder? To look down on those below and receive glory! Why do want to be millionaires? To receive glory. Why do we want to drive nice cars/trucks/suvs/crossovers/hybrids/etc? Because we want that stare as we drive past a "lower person" wanting what we have. And now to turn the gun on myself:
Why do I record music? Why do I write music? REALLY... why? I think we'd all have to be honest enough to say that it's not ALWAYS ALL FOR GOD'S GLORY. We love the spotlight. We love the show. We love adoring fans and signing autographs (that's got to be one of the most fleshly glory-trips I've ever been on). We eat it up.
So What?
(note: in my opinion, you're not allowed to whine about something unless you're willing to offer a solution... that's what the "So What?" section of my blogs will be... of course I don't have all the right solutions, but I should at least be thinking towards them)
Giving glory back to God is more than just about saying "glory to God" (which isn't wrong in itself) when you finish a concert (because that usually just ends up getting you more glory... "oh, he's so humble and godly"... am I right?). Giving glory back to God for me is more about being as transparent an artist and a person as I can be on stage and in life so that people can see that I really am just another fallen human being saved by the marvelous grace of God. It's also about telling stories from my life (even about songs that I've written) that show off God... ie... "No one else could have done this but God!" Finally, it's about having a genuine humility about you that emanates from you. I think that this is why Jesus says that we MUST take up our cross daily and follow Him. If I wake up every morning and refocus my desires, dreams, hopes, and plans in light of the cross, then I will always give glory to God. The cross and the resurrection are the focal point of God's glory, and if we return people to the cross, we will refocus glory to Him every time.
Let us as Christians be a people intent on NOT having our way, our desires, our glory. Let us be a people content to sacrifice our glory on the cross of Jesus and truly give it all to Him.
-Andy
I'll go ahead and admit that very little of what I think or conclude is mine. I have to steal ideas from other ideas, but even this may help prove today's point (thanks Louie).
Once upon a time there was a perfect world and a man and a woman who had EVERYTHING (literally), except one thing. And in spite of having everything except one thing, it seems that all of their attention turned away from everything to the one thing. And so Adam and Eve chose to give up everything (including perfect communion with God, which is life's ultimate completion in my estimation) for the sake of the one thing that they weren't allowed to have. Satan's temptation is interesting. He offers them something that has been haunting us ever sense: GLORY. They wanted to be like God. I think more accurately, they wanted to BE GOD. They wanted to rule all, own all, and have all under their command, at their whim.
Why are we by nature (apparently even before The Fall) so obsessed with glory? Why do we need so badly to be recognized? And, why do we need to be in control?
I think about many "big shot" musicians and actors and an almost amusing irony in their lives. They have either worked hard or caught some lucky breaks (or both) to become who they are, and ultimately their worth (not actual human/spiritual worth, but worth in terms of popularity, money, and glory) is defined by the number of fans and the response of those fans. The record companies don't make them millions. The Fans do. They buy tickets and t-shirts and MP3s and DVDs. But many times the very source of an actors' or artists' glory (the fan) is ignored as "lower-class" person. Grant it, an artists can't be expected to invest in the lives of all of their fans, but the example helps prove my point.
All that we have (even glory) is actually given by God. And yet most of us spend our entire lives lusting for more glory. Why do we climb the corporate ladder? To look down on those below and receive glory! Why do want to be millionaires? To receive glory. Why do we want to drive nice cars/trucks/suvs/crossovers/hybrids/etc? Because we want that stare as we drive past a "lower person" wanting what we have. And now to turn the gun on myself:
Why do I record music? Why do I write music? REALLY... why? I think we'd all have to be honest enough to say that it's not ALWAYS ALL FOR GOD'S GLORY. We love the spotlight. We love the show. We love adoring fans and signing autographs (that's got to be one of the most fleshly glory-trips I've ever been on). We eat it up.
So What?
(note: in my opinion, you're not allowed to whine about something unless you're willing to offer a solution... that's what the "So What?" section of my blogs will be... of course I don't have all the right solutions, but I should at least be thinking towards them)
Giving glory back to God is more than just about saying "glory to God" (which isn't wrong in itself) when you finish a concert (because that usually just ends up getting you more glory... "oh, he's so humble and godly"... am I right?). Giving glory back to God for me is more about being as transparent an artist and a person as I can be on stage and in life so that people can see that I really am just another fallen human being saved by the marvelous grace of God. It's also about telling stories from my life (even about songs that I've written) that show off God... ie... "No one else could have done this but God!" Finally, it's about having a genuine humility about you that emanates from you. I think that this is why Jesus says that we MUST take up our cross daily and follow Him. If I wake up every morning and refocus my desires, dreams, hopes, and plans in light of the cross, then I will always give glory to God. The cross and the resurrection are the focal point of God's glory, and if we return people to the cross, we will refocus glory to Him every time.
Let us as Christians be a people intent on NOT having our way, our desires, our glory. Let us be a people content to sacrifice our glory on the cross of Jesus and truly give it all to Him.
-Andy
Intro
Welcome to my blog! I guess I'll have to quote Jon Foreman in saying that "I'm in therapy, and music (and now blogging) is good way for me think out and deal with this fallen world" (my paraphrased rendition). My prayer is that you will find something helpful in God's word and my thoughts through this blog.
Thanks for reading,
Andy
Thanks for reading,
Andy
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