Someone told me the other day that she enjoyed my bright smile. I replied that though I did have my issues and my problems, I choose joy. I do not focus on my problems. She was surprised, saying that one would never know by looking at me that I felt sad or down. I said that my problems will pass away but the light of Jesus will never pass away. I want people to see His Light, not my problems.
To that end, I work at refocusing my attitude each day. Some days I need to refocus it hour by hour, and some days moment by moment. It is work to choose to rely on joy and not wallow in personal problems. I know sometimes I look glum, I try not to. But I don’t want to be a hypocrite either, faking that I have NO problems. But some people’s problems are so massive, mine in comparison are actually quite small. It’s all about perspective.
What do you want people to see? Your problems written on your face, body, and posture? Jesus warned the disciples not to purposely draw attention to one’s face when fasting or praying. In that case it was so people would ask the Pharisee ‘What’s the matter?’ so they could answer in a humblebrag about their lengthy fasting.
Can people see His light in you despite your problems? If we rely on Him, then really rely on Him. Don’t worry about the medical report, you will get a glorified body. Don’t worry about the scarce cupboard, He will provide. Don’t worry about the job, He will send one. Don’t worry about anything. It’s hard, I know, but worry doesn’t increase your life one second more. Worry is actually a distrust of God’s providential care and work in our life.
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.” (Proverbs 12:25).
“I inquired of Yahweh, and He answered me, And delivered me from all that I dread.” (Psalm 34:4).
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).
He says all that and more. Let people see your light, for He that is within us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Your problems will pass away, but He will never pass away, so He should be the focus. Choose joy.
By John Bauer – Illustration of Walter Stenström’s The boy and the trolls or The Adventure in childrens’ anthology Among pixies and trolls, a collection of childrens’ stories, 1915., Public Domain
Internet trolls have been around for a long time. Well, at least as long as the internet, lol. Before that there were “nattering nabobs of negativism” as Vice President Spiro Agnew called the media, who were constantly critical of the Nixon Administration. Before that it was naysayers, and before that gadflies. There was even a troll in the Bible, the demon-possessed slave girl who followed Paul around shouting things constantly, disturbing his work and emotions. He became greatly annoyed. (Acts 16:16-18). Constant critics are part and parcel of the public life. And the internet is very public.
And that is what makes trolling so alluring to trolls, the immediate reaction they receive from their efforts. The most prized trolling behavior among these goblins is getting the hugest reaction they can by putting in the least effort. The less effort they put in compared to the biggest reaction they can receive is the golden ratio for these corrupt people.
I’ve noticed one thing through long observation, first as a newspaper woman for 6 years receiving letters to the editor and then as an observer of blog comments and now Twitter. These debauched defects have a facility with words. Whether lengthy or pithy, they possess a satan-inspired skill to say just the right thing at just the right moment in just the right way, for maximum, hurtful damage to their target.
I’ve been the target of many critics, naysayers, and trolls for years. But there is one particular troll I must award the taker of the cake. Her degeneracy is full tilt, and I mean topped up to the brim of the cup. I’ve been wounded by her words, turned to the Lord, and gone my way. Then more words, and more, with me over time becoming frustrated, upset, then full-blown angry.
Then one day all that changed.
There is a limit, a boundary, a line that most sane trolls do not cross. Though these unfortunate pagans run their mouth, speak ill, practice lawlessness, they have a conscience. It’s withered to the size of a raisin and just as dark, but it’s there.
This particular day, my evilly faithful troll said something about me that made me drop my mouth open. I was aghast. Stunned actually. It was a decisive moment. My mouth agape, I understood that she must have no conscience. She operates with impunity as if there is no God keeping track of every careless word. And her minions chimed in with worse things to say. Very bad.
She had gone beyond the bounds. She was in a wilderness landscape familiar to evil men and beasts. Stunted trees where the most raucous of crows and ravens perch, leering. Oppressive mist, black scudding clouds, parched and wilted vegetation, bony animals drooling and ravening. That is her landscape. A William Blake hellish landscape. That is her mind. Her and her minions.
Gustaf Tenggren’s book cover for his ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ (1923).
I bow to William B. Yeats’ words here, his poem The Second Coming,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
Yes, the passionate intensity of the shameful fiends. That intensity never tires, does it. As John Bunyan said in Pilgrim’s Progress of the Man in the Iron Cage, “I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts” and that is what these shrews enjoy, runaway sin, careening down into an boiling abyss from which they will never escape.
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.Matthew 7:17
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I said it was a watershed moment for me. My anger dissipated at once. I thanked the Lord for showing me the utterly evil contaminated souls these trolls are, these particular trolls I’m speaking of. The Queen Troll and her minions.
Every human being operates on earth under His restraining grace. To varying degrees, the unsaved conduct their murky works in some sort of restraint. We all have a problem you see. We are all sinners. Unless the Lord intercedes, brings us to His Light, and reveals it to us so we repent, we stumble about in darkness. Eyes do not see. Ears do not hear. Sin abounds and more and more it mounts up to the limit in which God allows. See Job 1 where God put limits on satan in his work against Job.
We know in Romans 1:18-32 that God lifts His hand of restraint from some sinners, then lifts it again, then again. We have a problem you see. Even Christians who know of sin and personally experience sin and repent of sin- we really don’t know sin. We don’t comprehend the inky depths to which sin drags us. We underestimate its power… sin’s utter absence of any light, any good, anything favorable. Sin is not only crouching at the door waiting to have us, its putrefied claws are scratching at the door, laying hold of the handle, opening it a crack. Itd deceit!
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “TODAY,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)
Sin is so dark that even after being struck blind, the lust of the homosexuals at Lot’s door were unappeasable animals. Lust had rendered them into incoherent brutes in search of what would satisfy their perversion.
No, sin is powerful in its hideousness.
So why am I grateful?
I am grateful to the Lord for His patience. That he allows such unspeakable behavior for so long is a testament to His sovereign patience.
I am grateful for the test of my own talk, to withstand the temptation to speak back in ways that would give satan gleeful reasons to accurately accuse me.
I am grateful to personally witness what it is like when the Lord’s restraining grace is lifted from a person and they lay the reins against the neck and run pell mell into satan’s cauldron.
It seems likely that the bestial bevy of trolls, particularly THAT troll, has had the bonds of common, restraining grace removed from her soul, and THIS is what runaway sin looks like. The Lord is letting us see! And it is not even a millimeter forward on the scale of what is in us, all of us.
I am grateful the Lord is showing me, us, her targets and bystanders, just what sickening unrestrained sin looks like. We see by her behavior what we all are in the natural. Her depraved potential is being realized and her deepest desires are being revealed, as more and more of the common grace that surrounds her is whittled away from her with every keystroke.
What we see is what the world is becoming and what we would be without the Lord’s intervention. Restraint gone, her maniacally gleeful conflicts spurred by a degradation from which most of us are blessedly protected, are made plain for all to see. I’m grateful for the reminder that such could have been
And it is gross. No matter how gross sin is, no matter to what level a person has descended, without His restraining hand, it always becomes lower…worse…more corrupt. And so it was with her.
They continued to display their allegiance to satan this week with even worse speech against a dear brother and sister who were going through a grief laden walk. Thousands of people online were horrified at her words, her evil, the depths to which she swam. Did you ever notice that the word vile and the word evil are almost the same?
Oh, the patience of God in his dealings with such as her. Oh His patience with all of us. It is a miserable thing to hold onto sin, to pet it and carry it and think that is feels good to let it claw your mind to a point of soulless depravity.
Pity her. Pity them, all of them. And learn from her example sin’s power, sin’s evil, sin’s scope, and sin’s grip on a lost person. There but for the grace of God go I…
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in Yahweh, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. Psalm 32:10
When Adam sinned, the Lord our God, creator of all, cursed the ground.
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; (Genesis 3:17)
I live in a rural area. Not every place on earth looks like this, I know. But I’m astounded that ANY place looks like this, after the curse.
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If God’s earth is THIS beautiful after the ground has been cursed, then imagine the beauty of heaven! Look toward the reward- being in God’s family, perfected in glory, and seeing the face of Jesus, amid inexpressible sounds and sights of beauty of such scope that we cannot even imagine! (2 Corinthians 12:4)
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures, (2 Peter 3:15b-16)
The plumb line…God’s word, straight and true-
therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; (Isaiah 28:16-17).
Oxford Dictionary says a plumb line is “a line with a plumb attached to it, used for … determining the vertical on an upright surface.”
Are you a Bible twister, or are you following God’s plumb line of truth? Are you following a Bible twister, or do you submit to righteous teachers who follow God’s plumb line?
In this chaotic world full of man’s philosophies, I’m grateful to Jesus for His word, God’s plumb line of truth to follow, and to the Spirit for opening my mind to it. It does not matter that the line is narrow, all I need is His strength, and the width of my feet to follow it.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
Here, the surprised, shocked, and dismayed false Christians are revealed ‘on that day’. They had been busy for the Lord, laboring in His churches, working and doing religious-type activities. They knew the Lord and they knew His name.
But he didn’t know them. He consigned them to outer darkness.
That set of verses are deeply convicting, scary, and worrisome. All people reading them should examine one’s self to see if they pass the test of faith and assure themselves they will not hear those words. Ask the Spirit to testify to you that you are a child of God.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:16).
First of all, too many people today, when they pray, sign off at the end with “In Jesus’ name” as if it is a mantra. It’s not a mantra. It isn’t a magical covering. Michelle Lesley wrote:
♦ If you’re tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name” on to your decreeing and declaring and binding and rebuking as some sort of way to harness the power of God into making your words a reality, you’re taking God’s name in vain because you’re doing the same thing witches and pagans do when they use incantations and cast spells. “In Jesus’ name” isn’t the Christian version of “abracadabra.” To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray that what God wants – not what we want – will be done.
Now as to the verses: the three religious activities these false Christians hurled at Jesus in desperate attempt to prove their identity as a child of God:
1. prophesy in Your name, 2. in Your name cast out demons, 3. in Your name perform many miracles
These 3 activities were part of the collection of sign gifts. These were the showy gifts whose purpose in the first decades of the new covenant was to affirm the messenger’s authenticity because the canon was not completed yet. The sign gifts also included tongues and interpretation of tongues.
Once the canon was complete, new revelation was not necessary. Believers had the word in print and/or preached to them. Prophesying ceased. Miracles performed by believers ceased. Casting our demons by the hand or word of a believer ceased.
The word prophesy means in the Bible either preaching the word, or foretelling something about the future. The word prophesy as it’s used in the Matthew verse is the latter, foretelling. AKA a sign gift.
Yet these false Christians persisted in faking their prophecies, working at casting out demons (who likely laughed at them, Acts 19:15), and pretending to do miracles. The same continues to this very day. Their efforts are vapor, not done in Jesus’ name, and will be uncovered as false on the day.
Now, let’s contrast their fake religious activity to real religious activity.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
1. Teaching & Learning 2. Fellowship 3. Breaking of bread= communion/meals together 4. Prayer
This day-by-day, persevering in spiritual disciplines, is the true religious activity. It was noted in Acts and lauded.
“The foremost of the disciplines is that involving the Word of God and constitutes the reading, study, memorization, and meditation of Scripture.” ~GotQuestions
Notice the false Christians didn’t say, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we pray, and study, and memorize scripture, and devote ourselves to worship?’ Not that false Christians don’t do those things too, but just note the three religious activities the false Christians chose to use as their primary defense when trying to argue their way into the Kingdom. The very ones that have passed away. Many will discover this to their eternal regret.
4183 polýs – many (high in number); multitudinous, plenteous, “much”; “great” in amount (extent).
4183/polýs (“much in number”) emphasizes the quantity involved. 4183 (polýs) “signifies ‘many, numerous’; . . . with the article it is said of a multitude as being numerous” (Vine, Unger, White, NT, 113,114) – i.e. great in amount.
It breaks my heart to think of the shock of the MANY as they are confronted by an angry Christ. They are thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19).
If you, dear reader or listener, are one who believes you are hearing from Christ, or casting out devils, or performing (fake) miracles, consider those sobering words from Jesus.
If you, dear reader or listener, are growing weary with your spiritual disciplines, thinking that such a ‘insignificant’ walk surely must be displeasing to Christ- it isn’t. It’s laudable. It’s worthy of Him. Devote yourself to the teaching and breaking of bread and fellowship and prayer. And you will rejoice on the Day!
Think of who God really is. Over the years through sermons, pamphlets, Sunday School curricula, podcasts, and books- we see repeated whittling of our august, holy God down to a weak boyfriend pleading with people to walk down the aisle and “accept Him,” or a heavenly butler willing to tolerate anything we say or do and give us our 3 wishes. No.
And it shall be very tempestuous round about him – The word used here – śa‛ar – means properly to shudder; to shiver; and then it is employed to denote the commotion and raging of a tempest. The allusion is doubtless to the descent on Mount Sinai Exodus 19:16, and to the storm accompanied by thunder and lightning which beat upon the mountain when God descended on it to give his law. The whole is designed to represent God as clothed with appropriate majesty when judgment is to be pronounced upon the world.
This scene is going on right now in the throne room of heaven. Isaiah was given a vision of it in Isaiah 6:1-4
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
Yet for all that, if you are a true believer, you are a son of God, His child, given privileges of approaching Him boldly, says Hebrews 4:16.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
What grace! To go from His enemy, shaking at His thunder and smoke, standing at the bottom of the quaking mountain, but being WITH Him at His throne, worshiping in love, making petitions, and seeking His guidance via the Holy Spirit. He is not a weak boyfriend, nor a heavenly butler, but a powerful God, Providentially bringing all His plans to fruition, one of them being to sanctify His children and bring us to His dwelling place someday. Amazing!
I work as a teacher aide. Some of the children I work with are in kindergarten. I was working in my small group, and they noticed that some new decorations had gone up. There was a large chick coming out of an egg hanging on the door, and around the school were other eggs, in pastel colors and with some rabbits too. One girl asked about it and I said it’s Easter decorations.
That got them talking about Easter and of course Easter egg hunts. Easter egg hunts are huge for kids. They burbled and chatted.
EPrata photo, Recreation Department Easter Egg Hunt, years ago
When’s Easter anyway? asked a girl. April! answered a boy. Another child asked “What is Easter about?” They all explained; “It’s when you hide eggs with candy in them and hunt for them all around”. I followed up. But what else is Easter for? Again they explained that the “Easter Bunny comes and you find candy and eggs in a basket”. Anything else? One girl explained, “When you go to church…” Yes, yes? I eagerly leaned forward. “…and you hunt for eggs and find candy.” But isn’t it about Jesus? The girl said, “Of course. He lays out the eggs.”
The most beautifully decorated egg pales in comparison to the beauty of Jesus
It’s charming and sad all at once. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes is always funny and they say unexpected things but they also have more truth in them than we like to think. Kid life is all about getting to the next candy bonanza. To them, Easter is just another fairy tale that has fantastical, magical creatures like a rabbit that delivers candy and eggs in a basket filled with fake grass.
It’s one reason not to depend on a child’s assertion that he or she has ‘accepted Jesus into their heart’ because to become a true believer one must understand sin, our position before Christ, His anger over it, and repentance. This isn’t possible with kids who still believe the tooth fairy flies in to your bedroom and takes the tooth from under your pillow. They still believe in Santa.
I never liked Easter Egg hunts. This was because I never found any eggs. Even as a kid I didn’t enjoy competitions, I was slow and ungainly, I didn’t quite understand the point, and there were always lots of bullies intent in shoving you down to get that egg first. I left a grass-stained mess with bruises, hurt feelings and an empty basket.
I did enjoy the wonderful Easter baskets my parents left by the fireplace. They always held crinkly grass, chocolate, and pretty little jelly beans and more. They were always both artful and bountiful.
I enjoyed dyeing the eggs too, a lot. There was always a new dress to wear, with hat and gloves, for Easter. It was one time per year (of the two) we attended a church. The point of the day was the dinner afterwards.
Me, all dolled up for Easter
Yes, it’s all about Jesus. The crinkly grass, baskets, egg hunts, dyed eggs, ham dinners, and Easter outfits aside, the power of the resurrection is a wondrous event to contemplate. We take a special day to praise our Father for His power and His love in resurrecting His son.
I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17b-18)
So…hunt for eggs if you must. But look for Christ.
Believers are ordinary. We serve an extraordinary God.
He might use us in extraordinary ways, but we’re all flawed, sinful, ordinary people. He used ordinary grandmother Lois to raise up young Timothy. He took impulsive sons of thunder James and John and made them evangelizing Apostles. He used fishermen, (Peter, Andrew) sellers of purple (Lydia), teenagers (Timothy, Jeremiah, Mary, David), murderers (Paul). He used ordinary people going about whatever they were doing at the time and transformed them into vessels of activity for His glory.
“God reigns through the stumbling, hobbling service of his people and the rage and malice of his foes to establish his eternal purpose for this world.”
~Derek Thomas, “What is Providence?”
Yet there are some who believe that we must be extraordinary in order to make an impact for the kingdom. The movement of a few years ago when the books Radical, Crazy Love, Wild at Heart came out made many people think that they were ineffective unless they made a big and splashy move for the faith. This is not true. Mary and Martha were simply hospitable. Dorcas sewed. Susannah donated. Acts 4:13 says Peter and John were uneducated and untrained.
Ordinary life: painting. EPrata photo
If you, dear reader or listener, feel marginalized, helpless to DO for God, ho-hum ordinary, then rejoice. Our persevering faith in ordinary lives is just as valuable to God as a martyr uttering eternally known last words. Just as important as the luminary you read about in the Bible. Just as impactful as the hero on the mission field.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42).
Ordinary life: sweeping
What the Spirit inspired Luke to write was not just the extraordinary means of glory we see occasionally in Acts, such as miracles or healings, but the ordinary means of bringing God glory by a consistently faithful church, as seen in the verse above. They devoted themselves to teaching and gathering and prayer. The extraordinary events died away as the miracles ceased, but the faithful never stopped gathering, learning, and praying.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, (Acts 2:46).
Ordinary life: selling. EPrata photo
Note that. ‘Day by day’. The ordinary Christian life is one of persevering in spiritual disciplines day by day, accruing spiritual interest in the bank of heaven. I’m sure your parents taught you that putting 5 dollars a week into savings eventually yields dividends. They did not teach you that putting gluts of huge amounts into your bank account in spurts yields dividends. The way to save is to be consistent over time. It’s the same with the spiritual life. Add to your spiritual treasury day by day.
I’m looking forward to meeting these heroes in heaven but I’m just as eager, if not more, to meet the unknowns who brought God glory with their words or their lives.
Here are a few resources to help quell any anxiety anyone might have that their life doesn’t count, just because they are not running barefoot to Bali getting martyred with arrows from cannibals or leading big conferences in arenas filled with thousands of adoring fans.
Here is Michael Horton, who wrote a book called Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World. His book blurb reads as follows:
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.”Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary.
Ordinary life: cooking. EPrata photo
If you don’t want to read the entire book, here is Michael Horton with an article on the subject of Ordinary at Ligonier: The Ordinary Christian Life
John MacArthur with a sermon called “The Ordinary Church“. Excerpt: “It was Finney who decided that religion, to be valid, had to have some kind of high impact, high energy emotional element. It was about methods, feelings, experiences, sentimentalism, and it all trumped sound doctrine and theology. Gradual growth, by the normal ordinary means of grace, prayer, the study of the Word, fellowship was exchanged for a radical experience, the anxious bench, and there was introduced into the evangelical world a restlessness of those looking for something extreme.“
Other material that pushes back against the big, splashy, ‘change the world’ mantra are:
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson. D. A. Carson’s father was a pioneering church-planter and pastor in Quebec. But still, an ordinary pastor…
Essay An Unremarkable Faith – “Meet Larry, a thirty-six year old Science teacher. Larry married Cathy 12 years ago. They love each other and enjoy raising their two sons. Larry’s life wouldn’t hold out much interest to the average citizen. His Facebook account doesn’t draw many friends and nobody ever leaves a comment on his blog. In fact, most people would summarize Larry’s life with one word—boring. But not Larry.“
Ordinary Christian Work, essay by Tim Challies. “The questions every Christian faces at one time or another are these: Are Christian plumbers, cooks, doctors, and businessmen lesser Christians because they are not in “full-time” ministry? And what of Christian mothers and homemakers? Can they honor God even through very ordinary lives? Can we honor God through ordinary lives without tacitly promoting a dangerous kind of spiritual complacency?“
Dear Christian sister, if you’re at home with the kids and don’t have as much time to engage in the world with other adults or to get out and about apart from errands, what you are doing is ordinary but extraordinary. It’s ordinary to repeatedly do laundry, dishes, dust, vacuum…mundane, even. But the raising of another human being, flesh-wrapped soul, a gift from God, is extraordinary. The dividends of all those loads of laundry, all those piles of dishes, all those prepared meals is the potential that you are laying the groundwork for another soul to be added to heaven. Extraordinary!
Music is powerful. In my younger and pre-salvation days, I used to use music on purpose to specifically lift my spirits, and I avoided melancholy music when I was feeling down, it affected my mood so much.
It’s not your imagination, music really does affect our mood:
Do you find yourself tapping your foot while shopping? Or having all the feels while watching movies? No matter your race, ethnicity, age or gender, music is a common phenomenon that impacts everyone. Music can be a powerful tool with its ability to evoke strong emotional responses. For example, music may lead to the release of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter. Music is present in everyday life for most people. Here, we answer questions about how music can affect your brain and body. Does Music Alter Moods and Relieve Stress? The short answer is, yes! Says Tallahassee Memorial Health Care
It’s not just the melodies that affect us, but what we are hearing for lyrics. What are we absorbing? If we think we can sing a secular song about certain sins, like adultery (Careless Whisper by Wham!, Tempted by Squeeze, Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel…) without it affecting us, then we are fooling ourselves.
The same goes for Christian music. We must be careful what we absorb. Even sweet or innocuous songs can be off just enough to warp our thinking. Let me give you four examples from popular praise songs that I enjoyed a lot in my early post-salvation days.
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The Far Side Banks of Jordan
I like Johnny Cash. His song “The Far Side Banks of Jordan” is about a spouse who worries he’ll die first. He muses on what that would be like to go to ‘the other side’. Here is the first stanza-
I believe my steps are growin’ wearier each day Still I’ve got another journey on my mind Lures of this old world have ceased to make me wanna stay And my one regret is leavin’ you behind
Yup I can relate to the weary part! I know many married couples have concerns about leaving their spouse if they die first, and make efforts to properly provide for them. So far so good.
Here are next few lines –
When it comes your time to travel likewise, don’t feel lost For I will be the first one that you’ll see And I’ll be waiting on the far side banks of Jordan I’ll be sitting drawing pictures in the sand And when I see you coming, I will rise up with the shout And come running through the shallow waters, reaching for your hand
I used to think how sweet it was that one spouse would be faithful to the other and wait for him or her. I pictured the scene in my head as I sang along. But nope…this is wrong. The first one we will see is Jesus. Also, there is no marriage in heaven, our relationship will change. And thirdly, we will be busy worshiping Jesus, not sitting idly around, doodling! The scene as sweet as it seems, is a true Mrs Lot situation. Sitting on the edge of heaven looking back, as opposed to being squarely in the center of heaven looking at Jesus, is wrong. We won’t long for sinful world rather than perfect righteousness in glory.
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In the Garden
I know I know, a lot of people have already mentioned this one as problematic. Really problematic. Its sweetness should not cover the fact that there are some lyrics that just do not jibe with the Bible.
And He walks with me And He talks with me And He tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known He speaks and the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
First of all, the joy that Jesus shared Intra-Trinity with God and the Spirit since before the world began till now, is the greatest joy anyone has ever known. And secondly, the joy that ALL departed saints are experiencing right now, is the greatest joy they’ve ever known, because they are with Jesus in person in glory. Certainly it is ridiculous to say none other has ever known the joy of knowing Him.
As for the next part, to say it again, God is NOT TALKING to us. Claiming that God talks with us individually in print, in speech, or in song, is all too common these days. The commonality of it makes it seem like it is happening to everyone, except of course, the ones who do not hear God talk to them. Which He isn’t. But it sets up a disquiet in the heart, that maybe we’re doing something wrong, or in some sort of displeasing sin, and that is why God isn’t talking to me or you.
When He was on the Cross
I understand the lyricist’s desire to present the unfathomable gap between our depravity and his glory; our inability and His great love. But these lyrics are just too probably untrue.
He Whose Glory Makes The Heavens Shine. So Unworthy Of Such Mercy, Yet When He Was On The Cross, I Was On His Mind.
We know a bit about who or what was on His mind when he was on the cross. We know he had a conversation with the thief on the cross next to Him. He told the thief that this very day he will be with Him in paradise. He was thinking about paradise and about the thief. Likely, Jesus prayed for the thief. (John 17:24). We also know that GOD was on His mind. He called out ‘My God My God why have You forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46). Possibly the disciples were on His mind, and his mother, he gave his mother’s care to John. (John 19:25-27). But Joe Blow and Suzie Smith? Probably not.
Somebody Touched Me
While I was praying (somebody touched me) Must’ve been the hand of the Lord
It may not have been.
That’s what everyone thinks, you know. That when they ‘hear’ a voice, “it must’ve been the hand of the Lord”. That when they settle down to write and are ‘guided’ by a voice, “it must’ve been the hand of the Lord.” Too many people think that when they experience something they assign as supernatural, it is from the Lord.
Not always so.
An entire dimension exists of the evil supernatural. Think on this: we know that a third of the angels fell with satan (this is how I interpret Revelation 12:4). In any case, we know a myriad of unholy angels fell, and became the demons. Hebrews 13:2 says that when we entertain a stranger we may have entertained an angel and not known it. There are a lot. If we go with the one-third in terms of numbers, we have a 1-in-3 chance of entertaining a demon as opposed to an angel.
Daniel 10:13 speaks of a holy angel being sent to Daniel, but was delayed 21 days in the heavenlies, so much so that Archangel Michael had to be dispatched to let the angel through. Ephesians 6 describes our battles not being against flesh and blood, but against “rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
There is an entire dimension of evil out there. Why do we never suppose that the ‘hand that touched me’ might be a claw from a wizened, prune hearted evil demon?
Christians cannot be possessed, but we battle against them in the spiritual realms. The ‘hand’ of the LORD is in heaven, but the activity of demons is ongoing. Don’t assume if something ‘supernatural’ happens it’s the LORD. It more than likely isn’t.
We know to avoid Bethel music, Hillsong music and other heretical nests like that. But we don’t need to be mindless about seemingly innocuous songs, either. We always must be wise and discerning about what we absorb. Satan is subtle. But Jesus is GREAT!
Enjoy this Psalm 29. As the MacArthur Commentary explains, it has the earmarks of earliest Hebrew poetry. Its general form is a hymn, proclaiming 3 representative realities of God as supreme and therefore praise belongs to Him alone:
1. Lord’s supremacy over heavenly beings
2. Lord’s supremacy over the “forces of nature” (references pagan gods)
3. Lord’s supremacy over humanity
It builds and in my opinion is a majestic and breathtaking poem/hymn. Happy Lord’s Day!
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Ascribe to the LORD Glory
A Psalm of David.
1Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,a
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
3The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
4The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
8The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
11May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
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