Matthew 28:5-7 “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.’” (emphasis mine)
Today is the day we celebrate Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Today is the day that Jesus “cashed the check” to cover our sin. Today is the day we celebrate the life we have because of Jesus. Today is the capstone to everything else Jesus did in His life. Today marks the day that Jesus did what no one before for after Him has ever done. Today is the day that Jesus defeated death, and the came back to tell His friends about it! Today is resurrection day. This is what we call Easter.
This won’t be a long post, because I know most people have family obligations today, but here is a song that I love listening to, especially around Easter, and I highly recommend it as a Song You Should Listen Too. It’s called Jesus Is Alive by Shai Linne.
Not gonna lie, I’m not feeling too inspired for songs to review today. So, I’m just gonna give you a Song (or two) You Should Listen To.
This month’s Song You Should Listen To is Love is a Commitment by Larry Norman. Some of you may remember hearing about him before – I suggested one of his songs on this blog last year (Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music). I usually try to avoid talking about the same people all the time, because I like to try and keep my music selections and reviews diverse (to some extent). Although, I don’t feel too bad about bringing Larry back, because it was over a year ago that I last talked about him (but since I’m the one writing these posts, it feels like a month or two ago to me – how time flies).
At any rate, I love Larry Norman and his music, both lyrically and musically (granted, to like it musically, you have to like music that’s a bit on the old side). This song is no exception. The message from this song is one that I think about often, because so many people use the term “love” in so many different ways. I like this song because it sets the record straight on what love is. The song is made up of three verses and four “choruses.” I put choruses in quotations because they aren’t all the same, but they all basically follow the same formula. Let’s look at the lyrics:
I am on the left side you are on the right,
Even if we both disagree I’m gonna love you with all my might.
This is the first verse, and it’s basically telling us that the right thing to do in situations where we disagree with someone else, is not to try and argue with them and “win them over,” but rather to simply love them. Of course, this sounds pretty simple in theory, but in reality, it can be very difficult – especially when you feel like the reason you need to change them is for the other person’s own good. I don’t claim to be an expert on this, but my basic rule of thumb is that I try to make sure they understand my position on something (that I disagree with them), and then I leave it alone until they bring it up (or if it naturally comes up in conversation). If they are willing to talk about it, then I am willing to talk about it. Again though, not an expert. Let’s continue into the first chorus…
Love is not a ballad on the top ten chart
Love is not a virus from Cupid’s dart.
Love is not a promise that you tear apart
Love is a commitment heart to heart.
Many people might say that the feeling they get from a certain song (or poem, or book, or other art), is love, but really, that’s just the feeling they get, not necessarily love. Is love a feeling? Yes. However, it’s much more than “simply a feeling,” as we will see. Another common quip that people say all the time, is that “love is blind.” This harkens back to the days of greco-roman mythology, where they explained the sudden rush of emotion associated with love, as coming from being shot by cupid (something completely outside the individuals control), who is often portrayed as blind/blindfolded. Many time people will not have a reason for loving someone, they just love them because that’s how they feel. My question to this line reasoning is always, “what happens when your feelings change?” Which goes along with the next part – the “promise that you tear apart.” This, I think, is referring mainly to divorce. It’s not love if you promise on your wedding day that you will be together through think and thin, rich and poor, etc… only to change your mind a couple years later and break all those promises. What is love? A commitment, heart to heart, that you will love that person no matter what.
Maybe you feel impoverished but true love can abound
Why don’t we expand our love and knock these four walls down.
This verse is telling us that sometimes people might feel like no one loves them, and that in those times, it’s our duty as representatives of Christ to reach out to people in need, break through the barriers of social class, and cultural acceptability, and love them.
Love is not a matter of time and space
Love is not a flower in a golden vase
Love is not a fantasy in silk and lace
Love is a commitment face to face.
These are a few more examples of what love is not. “Time and space.” What does he mean by this? I think that what he means is that when you really love someone, as a friend, family member, or significant other, separation – whether by time or distance – will not change the fact that you still love them. Will it mean that you might not know them as well as if you lived next-door, or in the same house? Yes. But the separation will not mean that you stop loving them. “Flower in a golden vase.” This refers to stuff/gifts. Now, I’m not saying that giving gifts is bad, but if all you ever do is send people gifts, you shouldn’t expect them to love you. Things can never replace people. “Fantasy in silk and lace.” This goes into the realm of selfish, sexual gratification – whether it be watching, participating, or simply imagining/fantasizing, these things are not love. They are actually the opposite of love, because it’s all about you. Love is not all about you, love is a commitment, one that is done with respect, face to face.
I know that you’ve been hurt before, it’s sad to comprehend
But baby I love you rich or poor, so don’t think this is the end.
I think this verse speaks to people who have some kind of “history,” whether it’s emotional or physical damage, I think a doubt that people can have about others, or themselves, is that they are “damaged goods.” Larry reminds us that if we are loving like Jesus, then your past doesn’t change whether or not I love you. The past is done and gone, and has no control over my current decision to love someone. And like the JJ Heller song says, “Love can make you new.”
Love is not a fire like a burning coal
Love is not a high that you can’t control
Love is not a moon and a midnight stroll
Love is a commitment soul to soul.
Again, like we talked about before with cupid, love is not some crazy, burning emotion that you can’t control – that might be what many people think it is, but that is not love – that’s your emotions going crazy. Love is also not just a collection of romantic circumstances (a moonlit evening stroll). Surely when you love someone (in the romantic sense), you will probably find yourself doing romantic things, but if all you have is those things, without committed love to back them up, then all you have is a lot of empty circumstances. Emotions plus experiences don’t equal love. Love requires that your soul be poured into that relationship in a committed fashion.
Love can be a blessing or full of strife
Love burns like a kiss, cuts like a knife
Love goes far beyond a man and wife
Love is a commitment life to life.
Love is a blessing because of what it gives us – joy, happiness, friendship, some one to turn to, etc… Love might be full of strife in the sense that sometimes you will have to tell someone they are wrong, because you love them and want their well-being. Love also affects your emotions greatly – it can give you that warm fuzzy-electric feeling (like a kiss), but when someone you love hurts your feelings it can feel like they stabbed you with a knife. Finally, love is not limited to a man and his wife – it should extend to family, friends, and even enemies (Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27). All too often we associate love purely with romantic feelings, but that is a far too narrow view of love. Love is much more than that. Love is the commitment of my life to yours.
Well, I don’t normally do such an extensive review for my Songs You Should Listen To posts, but I kinda wanted to write a review today, but I didn’t have any pop-culture songs that I really wanted to do. So, I hope you enjoyed this post, even though it was a bit longer and more of a review style. Here are all the appropriate links and such that I normally include with these posts. Enjoy.
Hey folks, I’m back! If you actually follow this blog, I’m sorry for the lack of posts this summer. I had a crazy busy summer (26.5 credits of Med-school, plus trying to have an actual life outside of school made for little free time), so I decided that I was going to put a pause on writing posts for this site until my fall/end-of-summer break. At last, we have arrived!
Since I haven’t been posting all summer I thought that today it would be nice to share with you some of the songs that enjoyed during my hiatus. These are songs that I either discovered recently, got me through rough weeks, or a combination of the two. So this is basically going to be a “special edition” of Songs You Should Listen To.
First up is a song from Audio Adrenaline. Now, before I talk about anything else, I just want to say that I’m so glad they are back! Apparently their lead singer had issues with his voice (vocal cord damage from a disorder called spasmodic dysphonia [med student, remember?]), and so they retired back in 2006. However, they are back with a new lead singer – Kevin Max (best known for his past membership in dc Talk). As far as I’m concerned they are still the same band. Their musical style is a little unusual, but that’s what I always liked about them. Anyways, the name of the song is He Moves You Move, and it’s from their new album Kings & Queens.
The message of this song has been so important to me recently. I’ve been really trying to let go of certain parts of my life, and letting God come in and rule them instead of me. One of my favorite lines from this song is “You’ve got to lose control, let go, there’s nothing left to hold on to.” I’m someone who likes to have a plan for everything, and likes the safety of the known, so letting go of that control is really hard, but also extremely necessary. If we don’t let go, and let God work His will in our lives, then we will never grow – especially in the spiritual arena.
Remember, God’s plan is always better than our plan, and just as Jesus is greater than us, so are His thoughts, gifts, and blessings greater than we could ever imagine. Our job is to get out of the way, and let God fulfill His purposes in, for, and through our lives.
Second Song You Should Listen To is by an artist named JJ Heller. I heard about JJ via one of my best friends, who mentioned her one day, and encouraged me to look her up. I’m so glad I did, because I love her music. And I can unashamedly say that I basically listened to her non-stop for a solid week. As I was listening to her, I decided pretty quickly that I was going to feature her in one of these posts. The only problem was picking a song. After thinking about it, and listening and re-listening to many of her songs, I finally decided upon Small. A couple of the other songs I found very helpful and encouraging as well, but this one seemed to fit with what I was focusing on this summer more than the others (and the message of my runner up by JJ, Control, was already covered by Audio Adrenaline [above]).
This song is all about how people try to make God into what they want Him to be. All too often we think of God as this guy who sits on a cloud and grants wishes, or that in order for Him to use us, we need to be strong, or influential, or confident, or smart. These are all lies, and we need to stop holding God in such low esteem.
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine recently, and said something along the lines of ‘God’s ultimate purpose for our lives is not to make us happy, but to allow us to glorify His name.’ When I heard this song, I was immediately reminded of what I had said that day, by this line, “Broken people hit the ground when they discover that you’re not here for our benefit.” It’s true, God is not here to fill our lives with ice cream and rainbows. He is not a vending machine, wish granting, luck box – and we need to stop thinking of Him that way, because that paints a very small picture of Him. Again, God’s plans are so much more than “how to make sure you have a good day.” Of course, He loves to give good gifts to His children, and He loves to bless them abundantly, but that doesn’t mean we are entitled to what we want, when we want it. In the words of JJ: “People wish that you were more like what they wanted you to be. Eventually they won’t have much of you at all in their theology.”
And because I was gone for so long, I leave you with two more recommendations, one artist, and one album. First, go check out the album From Up On Poppy Hill Songbook, it’s a soundtrack from the Studio Ghibli film From Up On Poppy Hill. It’s just a lovely instrumental album, that I found very nice and relaxing to listen to.
Spotify: From Up on Poppy Hill Songbook
Finally if you like epic orchestral music (think Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Batman Begins, and maybe a hint of TRON Legacy) go look up the artist Two Steps from Hell – weird name, I know. I’ve been listening to a couple of their albums for the last month or so, and loving it. I also happen to like their catch phrase, which is “Music makes you braver.”
Spotify: Two Steps from Hell
I know this was a long post, but there was a lot to catch up on. At this point, it looks like I’m not going to be able to finish my review post before the end of the night, so it will have to come out the first of September instead of the last day of the month like I used to always do, but I’m alright with that.
As far as this fall goes, I’m pretty sure I will be fully back, so expect to see a review and a recommendation every month!
Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the songs!
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!
A couple years ago a new band came and did a show at my church. That band was Remedy Drive – I don’t think they ever became super big, but they did have two albums out at the time (Now they have a third and an EP or two). I remember not liking the concert, but not because I didn’t like the music, but rather because it was too loud. I’m glad now that one of my friends lent me the CDs after the concert so I could listen to them at a more manageable decibel level.
This month’s song is one with surprisingly few words, but I feel like it gives us an important reminder – that we can’t see the whole picture, but God does. It’s easy to feel like we’ve wasted time, are wasting time, or that we don’t have a plan for the future. And while doing your best and working hard is important, God’s purpose for your life will be fulfilled no matter what. He will use your successes and your failures. He knows your hopes, dreams, and plans – and His for you, are greater. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe, do you honestly think that the 3.5lbs of neurons in your head are smarter than God? Do you think you can plan better than the orchestrator of the planetary orbits? Do you think you are more creative than the artist that created all the flowers of the field? Do you think you are stronger than the everlasting rock of salvation? God is greater than words can ever describe, and His plans for us are more amazing than we can ever imagine.
Without further ado, Here’s For The Years by Remedy Drive. I hope you enjoy this short and simple, yet profound reminder that God is in control, and He is greater than we often give Him credit for.
Since they are few, here are the lyrics:
Here’s for the years the worms have eaten Grace for the youth that’s almost gone I was awake when you were sleeping When you are weak i still am strong
Don’t despair child- you’d think I can hold you up when you fall If I can hold up the stars I can answer your call
Why so anxious? you’d think I can light up the path for your feet If I can turn on the sun – let it shine in your street When I rise up, and I’m carefully painting the dawn, it’s for you Rise and shine love, give glory where glory is due
This month’s Song You Should Listen To – All The Way by Newsboys – conveys my desire for 2013, enough said by me, I’ll let the song speak for itself. Listen and enjoy.
Life is hard.
I know, that’s an obvious statement to many of you, but I think sometimes we need to say it out loud to remind ourselves of its truth. The difficulty of life often produces much pain, sometime physical, sometimes mental, and other times emotional. This pain often causes us to ask the question: Why? Why am I experiencing this pain? or Why is there pain in this world at all? or Why can’t I rid myself of these hardships?
All these are difficult questions, and so we often fail to provide meaningful answers. And maybe the reason we frequently don’t have good answers to these questions is that the answer is above what our little minds can fully comprehend, it’s something that can’t be entirely explained. You won’t find a satisfying answer in the newest self-help book, in the advice of celebrities, or even counseling from your friends. Because the answer to pain is above us, the answer is The Doctor – no, not Doctor Who – but rather the Great Physician, Jehovah-Rophi, Jesus.
We live in a fallen world – that is, one that is infected by sin – so as long as we live, we can never escape pain and suffering. One of the reasons I really like Alistair Begg (and one of the main reasons I originally started listening to him) is that he talks a lot about suffering. It’s not in every sermon, but he does seem to bring it up every other month or so. One of my favorite quotes from Alistair about suffering is this one: “Christianity is not about how to escape from the difficulties of life, but it is how to face the difficulties of life. There is no ‘come follow Jesus Christ and escape everything.’ It’s ‘come follow Jesus Christ…and LIVE!’” and this one: “The difference that Jesus makes is not that He removes us from the circumstances, but that He grants us grace in the midst of the circumstances.”
This reminder is so helpful to me, because being a Christian doesn’t guarantee a carefree, happy life – indeed, sometimes it assures just the opposite – however, being a Christian does guarantee that Jesus will always be there for you. This is epitomized in verses such a Ps. 23, Ps. 71, Phil. 4:13, and others. But I did a quick word search for “comfort” in the Bible, and 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 came up as an obvious major verse for this concept. I’ve highlighted certain portions to help them standout more:
“3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of allcomfort, 4 who comforts us in allour affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.”
If there is anything that stands out about this passage, it’s that there will be suffering in our lives, but there will also be comfort too.
I think that’s enough of an introduction to this month’s Song You Should Listen To: The Hurt & the Healer by MercyMe. This song really nails this topic on the head. We experience a lot of hurt in our lives, but Jesus is there to be our healer. Enjoy.
“When I understand that God is in control of these things then all of my struggles, and all of my challenges and all of my experiences are brought before the God of peace.” -Alistair Begg
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” -Jesus (John 14:27)
Well, darn. I was thinking about stuff to write about on here last week, and then the weekend hit, and I totally forgot about posting. And now it’s October 2nd. Luckily, I had pretty much decided on what song to recommend for September. The review on the other hand, I have no idea. So I think for September, all I’m going to post is the Song You Should Listen To. School started back up at the beginning of September, and I’m taking 22 credit hours, so I’ve been busy.
At any rate, here is September’s Song You Should Listen To: Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music? by Larry Norman. This is a fun song about how many people think certain types of music are bad or evil, and shouldn’t be played in church or listened to by Christians. This one has been in my music library for many, many years (probably since I started my music library). This song was also a big influence on me to create a blog like this – as the message of this song is very similar to the goal of this blog. Here on the Meaning of Music I review songs and try to determine if it is a song we should listen to, or if we shouldn’t – not based on the sound of the music, but on the message. This is Larry Norman’s point in the song – that we shouldn’t just say “that song sounds different than what we’re used to, so it must be bad.” We need to decide if the song praises God or not. If it praises Him, listen to it. If it is contradictory to what the Bible teaches, be very careful with how much to listen to it. Music is powerful, so if we just fill our heads with the vain philosophies of men, we will quickly loose sight of the truth.
I hope you enjoy the song!
In true ‘Teegan form,’ I’m posting these on the last day of the month – even though I had two weeks of free time to write them in! I just couldn’t decide which songs to write about. I’ve also had some new music to listen to recently with the new Owl City and TobyMac albums being released. I also like to post songs that are currently applicable to my life – and with two weeks of free time, I’ve been left with lots of time to think. Which basically means that I couldn’t pick between all the things I was learning/being convicted of. I finally made the decision a few days ago. Today we are going to talk about Pride.
Pride is a nasty sin, because the very nature of it means that your flesh is clawing at you to ignore or deny you have it. It can be manifest in a very bold way, or very subtly. Let’s look an example:
Nebuchadnezzar. Who is he? He was probably the greatest, most powerful, ruler of Babylon. During his reign, Babylon was so prosperous as to have at least three of the Wonders of the Ancient World in the city. He had achieved ultimate success by most people’s standards. But in his success, he became prideful, and thus, he elevated himself to being #1 in the world, as is evident in Daniel 4:29-30 “At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, ‘Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?’” His problem is not the things he has done, or the feats he accomplished, his problem is that he attributes his success to himself. As a result, God punished him by making Nebuchadnezzar lose his mind. He is driven away from society, starts eating grass like a cow or ox, the hair grew out, and his nails became so unkempt as to resemble bird’s claws. And, this lasted for seven years. Finally, after seven years, Nebuchadnezzar realizes that he is not the greatest thing on earth, and that blessings, and success are given by God alone. Here’s what he concludes: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” Daniel 4:37 (emphasis added)
Now, you are probably wondering what this story has to do with music. And to answer that, I’ll introduce you to this month’s Song You Should Listen To: I Am Second by Newsboys. Newsboys is a band that I have listened to and loved for a long time. At some point, I’ll probably post some of their older songs on here, because the band changed a lot in recent years – their still good, just different. At any rate, this song is about how we all too frequently elevate ourselves above God. And just like we can never be too bad to receive God’s love and mercy, we can also never be too good to need it. I think we need to constantly remind ourselves that we are not first place, and we never will be. Unless you consider the fact that second place is really just the first class loser.
So, listen to this song, enjoy it, but also learn from it. The words are very important, so let them sink in, and don’t ignore them.
Pride doesn’t have to be you parading around the roof of your palace saying “look how great I am to have done all these things, I’m the greatest thing ever!” It can be as sneaky as looking at someone else and saying “at least I don’t do that” or looking at yourself and saying “ha, I beat that sin. I resisted that temptation.” Remember this: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 (emphasis added) Being prideful about how good we are going in our walk with Christ is just as wrong as being prideful that we achieved worldly success, or we didn’t fall prey to temptation. Ultimately this is the most important thing: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” Jeremiah 9:23-24 (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9, Gal. 6:14)
Like my review post, this is going up late. If you want my lame excuse, go read the post before this one…
As we travel through life, we interact will all sorts of people, places, and things. All three of these are able to create emotions – sometimes good, and sometimes bad. You can think of emotions like a dog – they make life fun/interesting, you have to take care of them, you can play with them, and some times they pee in the house. Basically, you have good emotions, and you have bad emotions, that’s a natural part of life. The problems come when we allow our emotions to steer the ship. Just like you wouldn’t let a dog steer a ship, you shouldn’t let your emotions steer your life.
Most of the time, the heart is referred to when talking about emotions, so since we have delegated the responsibility of emotions to the heart, we end up with phrases like “Follow your heart,” “Trust your heart,” “Let your heart decide” (thank you Disney for feeding this to us in nearly every movie you make). What does the Bible say about our hearts? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. I’d say that this passage is pretty clear, you can’t trust your heart, and you should be going anywhere with it or letting it decide anything! Now, of course we do need to listen to our emotions from time to time – after all they are part of us as God’s creation – but we need to be careful to not give them the reigns to our life. Going back to the dog analogy, it’s probably a good idea to pay attention to your dog when it starts barking at something lurking in the dark.
All that being said, I introduce this month’s (July’s) Song You Should Listen To: Dear Heart by Sanctus Real. There are not many lyrics to this song, but the message comes across loud and clear – Our hearts let us down, our emotions can’t save us, only Jesus can. Amen.
Lyrics:(I started bolding my favorite phrases, but quickly realized that I was basically bolding the entire song…)
Dear Heart, do you belong to me, or do I belong to you? Just look at all the trouble you drag me into. I’ve heard it said to follow your heart, But I’m starting to wonder if it’s gone too far.
Oh Heart, you’ve let me down, Chasing love where it can’t be found. Heart, we’ve fallen out, Cause all of your emotions Have led me to doubt. Tell me who’s gonna save us now?
Dear Heart, you’re in the wrong place, Looking out for yourself no matter what I say. And I know that you’re holding me back, And it’s time for a change, so I’m giving you away.
Heart, you’ve let me down, Chasing love where it can’t be found. And Heart, we’ve fallen out, Cause all of your emotions Have led me to doubt. Tell me who’s gonna save us now?
La la la la la la la la la, La la la la la la la la la (2x)
Heart, you’ve let me down, Chasing love where it can’t be found. And Heart, we’ve fallen out, Cause all of your emotions Have led me to doubt. Only Jesus can save us now
The Meaning of Music 