Me? lie? never.
I'm living for this cause
I lay down my life
Into Your hands
I'm living for the truth
The hope of the world
In You I'll stand
'Cause all I want is You
(ref. Hillsongs – For This Cause)
Sorry, I won’t be putting up this song to play, but really just look at the lyrics. No better way I could have put that. I think I could write a couple essay on just those seven lines… sooo here I go!... No, just kidding =). But really, those lyrics hold so much value in them. Of course we reach one of the “controversies” of some worship songs. Should we really sing them? Because sometimes we just realize… we can’t stick by the words we say. I was asked this by a friend over the summer, and the answer I gave? Yes. We should sing these songs and we should sing them with all our heart, mind and soul. But won’t we have a full congregation of lying, sometimes off-pitch singers? How can we even call that worship? Regardless of whether it’s worship or not, how many times have we lied to God then? We lie to him every time we procrastinate, every time we say that he’s number one in our lives, every time we act as we shouldn’t, every time we just “don’t feel like going to church”, every time we love with our words but hate people with our actions, every time we’re on the altar and commit our lives to him, time and time again. We’re liars. We lie. The ironic part is that we believe he knows everything and yet we lie to him, maybe thinking that he won’t catch us when we break that promise.
So finally we can draw some conclusions. As Christians we don’t just lie as we sing songs about things we’ll never commit to, we’re also great actors. We act as if we’re all spiritual and tight with God on Sunday, but on Monday its back to our normal selves. Christians aren’t better people. We’re just better liars and better actors.
Now, seeing by the fact that I haven’t been struck by lightning yet… (looks up), I think God understands where I’m going with this. No, it wasn’t all sarcasm, it’s true. I accept it. I’m a liar and a faker, I’ve said things and I’ve acted ways that don’t live up in my everyday life. But we all have. And how can we even talk about “holy living” if that’s the case? Simple. It’s called the heart. The heart is mentioned in the bible just about as many times as the words “love” and “humble” are. Why? Because God cares about your heart. He wants to know what’s going on inside. Are you singing because the person beside you is singing? Are you clapping your hands because you don’t want to be the only one not doing it? Are you leading this worship song just because you thought it’d get the crowd going? Hopefully not. Because God looks to your heart. He doesn’t care much what you do on your outside, it’s what’s inside that counts (Intel… anyone?). What are your motives, your reasons, your incentives behind saying “I love you Lord, and I Lift my voice”, your motives behind giving that girl help with math, your reasons behind leading that cell group.
I ask you to think now, because God knows now. How sad will it be on the day that you meet God face to face and you're asked to give an account of your life and he says that you did nothing to exemplify Him on earth. Yes, maybe you have led cell groups for all your high school life, maybe you were worship leader, maybe you are a pastor. God doesn’t care if you have your Masters of Divinity (MDiv, “thanks Aaron”), or if you’ve mastered the art of chewing gum while you walk. God cares about what’s driving your life. Is it because you want to love Him? Is it because you desire to follow Him? Is it because you want others to know of the amazing love you’ve received? I would surely hope so.
Yes, being a Christian makes you a liar (still waiting for the lightning…), but God looks for why you’re saying such things. I’m so thankful that I follow a God with such great mercy. Although he knows we’ll say things with our lips, and turn and repudiate those things with our actions, He said that he’d love us all the same. I probably could go on about how God is merciful and how he gives us such an abundance of grace, but summed up, don’t get yourself down the next time you can’t stick to the promises you’ve made, just give it your all and God will be pleased with your efforts. He wants to see your heart, a heart pumping for Him. Where every beat of it pushes a desire to do something radical and unheard of, just so you can let everyone know: My God loves me… and I love him back.
All this being said; I’m living for your cause. I’m laying down my life into your hands. I’m living for your truth. You are the hope of the world, and in you alone I stand. Because, my Lord, you are all I desire. Amen.
Extra: I would like to say thank you to Melissa. What you’ve written in your blog/livejournal/whateveryoucallit has inspired me in such an amazing and unexplainable way. Thank you for sharing the simplest of thoughts you had just because you felt the need to write it down. May God bless you and guide you on all your endeavors and on your journey to being the revolutionist God wants you to be. I encourage anyone else to go read her page (linked on the side). Just look for the “rant”.
Great post my friend lol. I think I've left a comment at every different post you've made... I'm not stalking you -_-". Makes me think quite a bit, and kinda makes me feel how I'm never worthy enough for God... but hey that's the beauty isn't it? Ahhh "how great it is to be loved by You". Of course that "You" is God, and although it's a secular song (I think)... same thingggggg. Wahaha anyways... hair and times.. sigh lol.
-Aaron
Posted by
Anonymous |
15/12/05 12:46 PM
You know what's funny. I was thinking of posting sometime soon about the exact same thing. You read my testimony, I never used to know why some other Christians seemed to lead such incredible lives, and I just.. couldn't, but now I know. When your heart is with God, He knows, and you're not asked for anything more. You can sing your heart out, you can pray your heart out, you can read your heart out, but if your heart is only there on Sundays, it will never amount to anything, and you will never feel the love you feel when God is with you. I could go on, but this is a comment, not a post of my own, lol, so I'm going to stop here for now. I think I'll post again today. You've inspired me back. =)=). You keep at whatever you're doing, mister; you'll go far. And thanks to you too, for never failing to keep me accountable, even through all my dryness. I'm kind of good at that when I feel like it. Haha.
PS. Insightful enough? You tell me. XD.
Posted by
Anonymous |
15/12/05 7:19 PM
another inspirational post derek : ) this is an issue i've been thinking about/dealing with for a while now. its really cool how you chose to post this exactly the time when i'm in the middle of .. i guess dealing with this issue.
i agree with what you're saying. but you're saying that we should still sing the songs anyway, even if we know we can never or in the near future commit to the things we sing? im not sure if i agree with that. because i've been also talking to a friend of mine who doesn't really sing much. i asked him why don't you sing, and he said "because i don't mean it." and then he added "it would mean so much more the day that i can sing it and mean it at the same time." and isnt that true? i find that we do it so much. singing songs without actually meaning it, that it doesn't mean anything anymore. it just becomes a ritual and sometimes we even forget what we are singing. i think it is so much more meaningful to be able to sing it and mean it at the same time. : )
Posted by
Phoebe Mak |
15/12/05 7:39 PM
Thumbs up man! When I was reading your post my main thought was: isn't it just amazing how much God loves us? How despite all the stuff we do, all the lies we tell, how unworthy we are, He still loves us. That's what sets our faith apart from all the other religions in this world. Our God loves us unconditionally and has done so much for us. What other religion can honestly say that? We are so undeserving and totally unworthy, but we have that love and should be greatful for it. We must do our best to live Christ-like lives 24/7. Not behind closed doors, or on Sundays, but all the time, every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year and you get the picture.
Thank you for the reminder of how much more we need to change our lives. I'll see you soon! =D
- g e n
Posted by
Anonymous |
17/12/05 1:59 AM
... this reminds me of our conversation about "Enough" haha...
i've been thinking... maybe its okay to sing it if you sing it as a PRAYER. God knows our hearts and if in our hearts we desire to mean and be what we sing, and maybe we're praying for God to mold us into having those things be true, it's okay to sing them. however, if its just words and something we don't plan on working towards, it's pretty hypocritical to sing... idunno.
it was fun chilling with you tooonite you dork haha
i heart snow <333
Posted by
Jasy |
17/12/05 3:47 AM
DUDE. I THINK ITS BEEN A WEEK.
Posted by
Anonymous |
18/12/05 9:33 PM