I have been listening to TobyMac lately. I have widely varied musical tastes but his is my most recent enjoyment. For a girl who is in that over-40 crowd it helps to "hippi-fy" myself when I can. *grin* A recent release of his from his album Portable Sounds is called Made To Love. It is slightly hip-hop with a reggae beat thrown in (hence the "hippi-fying" of oneself). I find myself singing and singing with Toby. This particular song speaks of losing your first Love, losing your passion for Christ. The gist of the song is that we can forget that we were made for Christ and were made to adore Him and be adored by Him. Truly a beautiful song when you look at the lyrics.
But I was stopped in my tracks when singing along with him the other day when it comes to a place in the song where he is singing, "Anything I would give up for You. Everything I would give it all away." I was singing as hard as I could and then I stopped. Can I honestly be singing those words? Would I, could I give everything up for Him? Would I and could I give it all away?
I think we can easily get distracted by enjoying our favorite Christian song or hymn and not pay attention to the words we are singing. We love the way the words sound with the musical score or we love certain phrases that may speak to our hearts. But are our hearts listening carefully as we sing? God is. I imagine He is saying, "Could you give it all away? I can ask you. You sing praises to Me and sing of giving everything up and giving it all away. But can you?" Sobering thought. Not that God isn't sovereign and doesn't know what my answer would be. Not just the answer of my lips but the answer deep in my heart. And not that it would change Him and His love for me if I honestly said, "Lord, I can't." Yet, I can continue, "But You can help me. I want to but I need Your help."
Oh that I can sing those words honestly and wholeheartedly to my Lord. A conscious act of my will it would be.
Next time you are singing with your favorite hymn or song, take some time to really listen to the lyrics. Are they the cry of your own heart or a cry that needs to find its voice?
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10:18 PM, Mar. 26, 2008
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