We Shouldn't Be Ashamed Of Him

I love Christian music. You know Christian music don’t you? Christian lyrics set to music. Lyrics that talk about God, Jesus, salvation and Heaven. At times there might even be a mention of Mary. I love Christian music because it’s uplifting and it focuses my mind on things about God. Like his love and goodness and Jesus coming to die for me. And it helps in worshipping and praising God. And it doesn’t glorify drugs, sex or the objectification of women. However I must confess that I’m hooked on Christian rock and hip-hop. I remember watching One-Cubed all those years ago and watching the video for Consume Me by Dc Talk. After that I was hooked. Just the other day, I went to a store and bought The Hurt and The Healer, Miracle, Gravity and Believer, the latest albums by MercyMe, Third Day, Lecrae and Kutless respectively.

The other day I read an article in TIME magazine in its religion section where it did a report on how Christian artistes were breaking into the mainstream charts. As an aside, it’s quite interesting that TIME has a religion section. I love news magazines but if you read a lot of magazines like TIME, Newsweek or The Economist, you get the feeling that the editors are of the opinion that people of faith, especially Christians are kooks, people who are crazy and causing all the trouble in the world. If they had their way, they would incarcerate all people of faith. They regularly refer to God as a myth so its therefore something that smacks of hypocrisy that they have a section devoted to religion in their magazine.

In the story, there were talking about how Lecrae and TobyMac had topped the iTunes album charts with music with Christian music. In a particular week, Lecrae had the number 1, 2 and 7 songs on the singles charts. This was achieved in spite of the fact that people normally steer clear of songs that are deemed to be Christian or mention God. However, there were other artistes and groups who were Christian like Switchfoot, who refused to be labelled as Christian artistes. According to one of the members of Switchfoot, they make a point of not mentioning Jesus or God in their songs. They also make a point of leaving their lyrics open to the listener’s interpretation. Which then led me to the question, is Switchfoot a Christian musical group or a secular musical group made up of Christians?

As a lawyer when I started out, my main motivation was winning cases. However, my mind-set changed when I talked to a colleague of mine. When I asked her whether she normally prayed to win cases, she told me no. She explained that while she would do her best in preparing for and prosecuting the case, she would not pray to win the case. Rather, she would pray that God’s will be done. That changed the way I saw what I do. I have no problems with Christians being in a secular musical group. After all, we all live in a secular world. But as Christians we need to bring a Christian persuasion to all we do.

My devotional the other day was talking about how all that we do has to be about Jesus. Even when we do things that edify us like preaching, it has to be about Jesus. However it bothers me when someone says he doesn’t want to be identified as “Christian”. It’s almost as if they are saying that they are ashamed of Jesus and would rather achieve fame and fortune on their terms. So when someone says that the lyrics of their song are open to whatever interpretation the listener wants to give them, I wonder how that is about Jesus. If we can’t say we belong to Christ in song and in our everyday lives, when can we?

I'm a Christian (But It's My Right To Be Nasty & Obnoxious)

Some years ago when I was still kind of addicted to Facebook, while going through my timeline, I loved reading Pastor Rick Warren's updates. There were times when I not only loved what he had said, I also wanted to add my own comments. And every time I opened the comment box, as regular as anything there was this guy who was there not to testify to the lie or truth of the comment but to insult and abuse. If you went through every comment on Rick Warren's timeline, you would find at least one comment from the guy being nasty and critical. And the sad thing was that you couldn't put your hand on why he was the way he was. I got into something of an argument with another person following Pastor Warren who assured me that it was the man's right to be nasty and obnoxious because that right was was guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

The other day, I looked at a picture posted in Instagram by Dr Mike Murdock. I read through the comments as I love to do. I was therefore shocked to see a nasty comment from a female follower. I don't know about you but I was taken aback that someone would actually take the time to actually follow someone just so you could be nasty to them. I don't have an issue if you have a bone to pick with someone, but why take the time to aim nasty and terrible comments on social media when you could spend that time doing other and better things. If you have a bone to pick with someone, why not start a blog or something instead of practically stalking them on social media because in my view that's what it is, stalking.

The other day, Jars of Clay retweeted a comment by someone who claimed that he the group's new album, Inland proved his point that Christian music was at least 2 years behind the rest of others genres. Personally, I don't know what he meant by that. Maybe he wants Christian ministers to be like Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga for us to be like the rest. Personally that's why I love Christian music because it's about Jesus. A week or so ago, the group also retweeted a comment by another person who had come to one of their shows. According to him, Jesus was not seen because of the people they came to sing with. According to the group, they will retweet people even if what they say is really not complimentary to group. Based on that, my respect for the group has increased. I also respect the right of those who tweeted their comments to make those comments. They were making comments based on their views. However they didn't see the need to be nasty to get their point across.

I love Michael Hyatt. If you want to make a comment on his blog, you see a notice that tells you that he retains the right to delete comments that are snarky and offensive. Sadly that's not really possible on social media like Twitter or Facebook. The sad thing is that the people who go on social media to hurl abuse and insults on people who don't even acknowledge them grow even bitter when they do not receive any validation. I don't have a problem with you having a right to speak but the problem is that when stand on a right we exclude love. Love should be what moves us, not proving a point or being right.