Happy Easter! I hope you had a great day today celebrating the glory of our risen Lord, Jesus. Over the past few days I’ve been think about what God has done for me on the Cross, and what he continually does for me on a daily basis. I’ve also known that this post was upcoming, and so I tried to pay extra special attention to the songs I was listening to during Holy week. One of the songs that kept popping up on my radar, and one that always makes me smile is this month’s Song You Should Listen To – Only A God Like You, from the Promise Keepers album Unleashed.
One of the things that separates Christianity apart from all other religions is the greatness and love of Jesus. Only a God like Jesus is ultimately worthy of praise, because He is the only person who would willingly sacrifice Himself to save us from our sins. And on top of that, He gives the gift of salvation away for free, all we have to do is accept! Jesus alone is worthy of praise, Amen!
Well, this weekend went by much faster than expected. As a result I ended up writing this on Sunday night – the last day of the month once again…
I’ve been having problems finding songs to review lately because of all the studying I do to music without words – and I can’t really critique the message of a song without words now can I? At any rate, I did manage to pick a song for today – All About Us, by He Is We (featuring Owl City). This is a song I found a few months to a year ago now. When I first listened to it, I was disappointed with the message because it sounded like all they were saying is that life is about them and their romantic relationship. And my gut instinct was to say, no, life is not just about you, it’s about God – and more specifically, it’s about giving glory to God. Furthermore, other people matter too – you are not the center of the universe. Read the chorus, and you’ll see what I mean: Cause lovers dance when they’re feeling in love.
Spotlight shining, it’s all about us.
It’s oh, oh, all,
About uh, uh, us.
And every heart in the room will melt,
This is a feeling I’ve never felt but,
It’s all about us.
While my initial impression works if you just listen to the song, this is one of the few instances where watching the music video is a must. In fact, I am pleased to say that the music video so completely alters my view of this song, and the message it presents, that it goes from an annoying, cliché, and overly-sappy love song, to one of my favorite stories of romance. If you don’t believe me, just go listen to the song by itself (on Spotify), and then watch the video that goes along with the song (you might not get it until the end):
Now, if you watched the video, you know that the song is about a couple who fall in love, but the girl finds out she has cancer, she will have to undergo chemo, and it’s unknown if she’ll make it. This raises a very interesting question – one which I’ve actually thought about before, but never came to a conclusion about. The question that is posed to these two people is what to do about their relationship. What do you do if the person you fall in love with, the person you planned on marrying, becomes sick enough to die? If she is going to die, then should you make that big step? I think the video gives us our answer. You go for it anyways. Relationships aren’t about making you happy, or about what the other person can do for you. They are about how you can love and serve the other person.
In the case of the song, the guy gets this. He understands that he should marry the girl, not because of what she can give him, but of what he can do for her. Relationships are about sharing the love of Christ with others, and I’m not just talking about romantic relationships here – I mean all relationships. Sometime I think we forget (probably due to what our culture is always slamming down our throats) that relationships don’t always have to have romantic connotations to them. Romance does (or at least shouldn’t) have a monopoly on the word relationship.
So what have we learned from this song? That our purpose is creating relationships is not to make ourselves happy. Do we become happy by being in a relationship? Yes! But that should never be the reason for starting one. It is always better to give than to receive. So make sure you’re doing things for the right reasons. I think that’s why the song is call All About Us, because it’s not what he get’s out of the deal, but rather what they give each other. It’s less about what I get, what I want, and what you can do for me, and more about what we can do for each other, for us. As for my recommendation for this song, I say listen to it! Just make sure the first time you do, you aren’t in the presence of someone you don’t want seeing you cry. 😉
The Meaning of Music 