If you’ve reached the SecondJon blog looking for my comments about the Jason Gray song “Falling in Love,” I created this sticky post to link to it.
Posts Tagged ‘music’
Sidewalk Prophets – You Can Have Me
09
Mar
Some time ago I wrote on the false view of loving God as “falling in love” from the Jason Gray song in which says he has determined that faith must be more like “fallin’ in love” than the biblical concept of love – belief, commitment, obedience. I have no personal criticism of Jason Gray, and I don’t think he believes what his song communicates by itself.
I just heard this song by Sidewalk Prophets on the radio yesterday and was shocked by the honesty of what it means to love Christ, and that it’s shameful that our concept of love is that it has become unmoving and unconsuming.
As I’ve taught about what it means to really love God, a student said to me “I’ve been going to churches all my life and I’ve never heard this before. But I’ve checked, and it’s all biblical. I guess that’s not the message of having to give up everything to follow Christ is not what fills the seats in the church.”
He’s right. I’ve sat in churches where the preacher invites people to invite Jesus to be the CEO of their life and then they have a promise of a happy life, chock full of fun. Contrast that with what Jesus said:
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
This was Jesus’ style of “altar call.” It was no promise of happiness. In fact, Jesus promised suffering. Why have we changed the message to be about seeking emotional highs and happiness rather than giving everything up in seeking Christ?
Here’s the lyrics to “You Can Have Me” by Sidewalk Prophets that speak to this same issue:
If I saw You on the street
And You said come and follow me
But I had to give up everything
All I once held dear and all of my dreamsWould I love You enough to let go
Or would my love run dry
When You asked for my life
And You said come and follow me
But I had to give up everything
All I once held dear and all of my dreamsWould I love You enough to let go
Or would my love run dry
When You asked for my life
When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me
If You’re all You claim to be
Then I’m not losing anything
So I will crawl upon my knees
Just to know the joy of suffering
I will love You enough to let go
Lord, I give you my life
I give you my life
When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me
I want to be where You are
I’m running into Your arms
And I will never look back
So Jesus, here is my heart
When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me
When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
My Father, my love
You can have me
“Keep Changing The World” by Mikeschair
27
Jul
When I heard this song on Way-FM Denver, my ears perked up. I think this song bothers me because it’s both so vague to not be about anything “something here is wrong,” and self-condemning “But we just move along to take care of our own.”
It actually reminds me of a song by Flight of the Conchords: Think about it. Both videos with lyrics are below:
Keep Changing The World by MIKESCHAIR lyrics:
Something here is wrong
There are children without homes
But we just move along to take care of our own
There’s so much suffering just outside our door
A cry so deafening
We just can’t ignore
There are children without homes
But we just move along to take care of our own
There’s so much suffering just outside our door
A cry so deafening
We just can’t ignore
To all the people who are fighting for the broken
All the people who keep holding on to love
All the people who are reaching for the lonely
Keep changing the world
Take a look around
Before the sun goes out
What’s lost can still be found
It’s not too late now
It only takes one spark to make the fire burn
So reach inside your heart and let this be the start
Chorus
I know you see the suffering
How they gone recover when people just look over like they don’t even notice them
Everyone whose focusing on ending all this hopelessness
You can change the world by changing who the world is hoping in
I see the sun coming up
It’s a brighter day
Let’s show the world that love is a better way
So lend a hand join the fight
‘Cause time is ticking away
Keep changing the world
I see you changing the world
Step up!
Think About It by Flight of the Conchords lyrics:
There’s children on the street using guns and knives
Taking drugs and each other’s lives
Killing each other with knives and forks
Calling each other names like ‘dork’
Taking drugs and each other’s lives
Killing each other with knives and forks
Calling each other names like ‘dork’
There’s people on the street getting diseases from monkeys
Yeah, that’s what I said – they’re getting diseases from monkeys
Now there’s junkies with monkey disease
Who’s touching these monkeys, please
Leave these poor sick monkeys alone
They’ve got problems enough as it is.
Man’s lying on the street
Some punk’s chopped off his head
I’m the only one who stops
To see if he’s dead
Mmm…
Turns out he’s dead.
And that’s why I’m singing
What…what is wrong with the world today?
What is wrong with the world today?
(Jemaine mumbles)
What…what is wrong with the world today?
You gotta think about it
Think think about it.
Good cops been framed and put into a can.
All the money that we’re making is going to the man.
What man?
Which man?
Who’s the man?
When’s a man a man?
What makes a man a man?
Am I a man?
Yes. Technically I am.
They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers.
But hat’s the real cost?
‘Cause the sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper.
Why are we still paying so much for sneakers
When you got them made by little slave kids
What are your overheads?
Well, at the end of your life, you’re lucky if die,
Sometimes I wonder why we even try.
I saw a man lying on the street half dead
With knives and forks sticking out of his leg.
And he said,
“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Can somebody get that knife and fork out of my leg, please?
Can somebody please remove these cutleries from my knees?”
And then we break it down.
This is where we break it down
Ooh
This is where we break it down
Aah
This is where we do the whoa-o-o-o
Break it down
This is where we build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
We build it up now
Build it up
And then we stop
Jason Gray – More Like Falling in Love
12
Jul
I heard this song recently on a local radio station. I had a problem with the lyrics I heard, then I looked them up. I think my concerns were valid.
When we tell God: “It’s gotta be like this, not like that,” then haven’t we put ourselves above God, telling him what things should be like?
The fact is, we are called to give our allegiance to love himself. We are given words from the one who is The Word. We’re given obligations by the one who laid down his life for us. There is something to believe in. And religion is just a set of beliefs about reality, which we have.
We don’t get to demand how God should act. That’s prideful self-idolatry.
What do you think?
Lyrics:
Give me rules
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It’s like I’m falling, oh
It’s like I’m falling in love
Give me words
I’ll misuse them
Obligations
I’ll misplace them
‘Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free
It’s gotta be
CHORUS
…It’s like I’m falling in love, love, love
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me
