Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I Hate All Your Show.....

At Christmastime in the Caldwell family, names are always exchanged for gift giving. This past Christmas, Zack's cousin Joey got my name, and I received a wonderful gift. A great book, a mug, and two great Cd's, one of those being the International Justice Mission's "Freedom Project". This cd has some of my favorite artists, like Toby Mac, Third Day, Jars of Clay, and on and on. The songs are all about justice- the justice that the Bible speaks about, the justice, that as Christians, we are commanded to bring to those who so desperately need it. This, afterall, is part of why Jesus came (see Luke 4:17-21). There is one song, inparticular, that God has really been using to speak to me as of late. I admit, the first time I heard it, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Not because of the music, but the lyrics- This song pulls no punches, and hits pretty close to home, as you might guess from the title of the song, Instead of a Show. It is performed by a guy named Jon Foreman from the band Switchfoot, and is basically taken straight out of the book of Isaiah, chapter 1. If you haven't read this chapter, open your Bible and see what God has to say. He doesn't care so much about the formality of worship as he does how we treat others. So what does this mean for us, for me? I think it means we better take a close look at our lives and ask ourselves: Is my life just a show, something that looks good on the outside, or am I living my life the way Jesus did, doing what Jesus did- reaching those who need his love and mercy the most? That's a tough question. I know for me, it is easy to go to church, help out with children's programs, and sing in the choir. But it is not so easy to love the hard to love people, to make time in my life and room in my heart for those who don't fit into "my plan". I hope you will take a few minutes to listen to the song below.

1 comment:

Danielle said...

Powerful. I remember when my co-founder of Awake and Alive first showed me this song about six months ago. It is SO powerful!!! Thanks for sharing. Your boys are BEAUTIFUL, btw!!!