Well I am not going to do a full album review today, but rather I want to delve into one song that has struck me. Before I do that I will quickly say that Starfield‘s new record Saving One is really good, and I would totally recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.

Having said that Something to Say in one of the tracks on the new album that has really impacted me. Here are the lyrics for those of you who have not yet heard it:

I’ve got something to say
It’s been one of those days
When I’m finding it hard to believe in You

I’ve got something to say
I’ve forgotten how to pray
And I’m finding it hard to believe the truth

I’ve got something to say
Right now it feels like You are slipping away
Like I am drowning in a crisis of faith
Like I’m alone

I’ve got something to say
What was black and white is grey
And I’m finding it hard to believe in You

And faith might mean there won’t be answers
And hope might mean enduring through the night
But help me not forget in darkness
The things that I believed in light

I’ve got something to say
Right now it feels like You are slipping away
Like I am drowning in a crisis of faith
Like I was found, but now I’m lost in the fray

Granted they are not the most theologically/doctrinally deep lyrics, but they attempt to express (but thankfully not answer) the nagging question that I think all Christians deal with at some point in their spiritual lives. The song honestly and openly confesses how our humanness can sometimes interfere and even defeat our faith in our great Savior.

It is a hard confession to make, and brings about an even harder questions to face. What does it mean that my faith can be broken? What does it say about me and my relationship with Jesus I doubt? What does it express about my God, and most importantly what does He think about me when it happens?

I have had many conversations surrounding these very questions with friends, family, and even myself. I can’t say that I necessarily have definitive answers to all of them, and am not sure we even can have generic answers that fit ever situation such as this. I believe these are matters of the heart and moments of testing that are best left to the discernment and personal conviction of the Holy Spirit.

However, the bridge of this song (bold section above) did bring me new clarity and personal revelation about how I perceive these times in my life.

See often when faced with hardships, temptations, trials, or attacks I cling to my faith and hope in Jesus because I expect He will deliver me. That is good, but when the answers don’t come in the variety or time table I expect that same faith and hope inexcusably starts to fade. So as this song so eloquently reminds me, I have to ground my faith and hope in the truth of who He is, not in past or future outcomes.

Lord Jesus, please help me to remember in the darkness what I believed in the light!

–Wholly Surrender!

Come ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you
Full of pity, love, and power

Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God’s free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Come ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry until you’re better
You will never come at all

This is a powerful song because those words declare the hearts of so many. When many hear this song they immediately think back to their own salvation when Christ rescued them from death and restored them to new life in Him. The remember the declaration of James:

James 4:8

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

However as I reminded our congregation on Wednesday night it is important that we not mistake this song and these words as being solely for unbelievers. No, in fact every single one of us is a sinner. Some of us are sinners saved by grace, but sinners nonetheless. Paul made this very clear by his own declaration:

1 Timothy 1:15

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Some might be offended by that, or resent the thought that they who have been redeemed are still sinners. On the contrary I find great hope and relief in that fact. See I have been following Christ for many years now, but just like Paul it seems that I progress deeper into my walk with Christ the more I realize the depth and magnitude of my sinful ways. The more I learn from Jesus the more I realize how much I need Him to continually rescue me from this fallen world and my sinful nature.

So I am thankful for the truth of this song. There are so many days that I am “weary and heavy laden, ruined by the fall” and I need His arms to carry me and I need His ten thousands charms to revive and delight my soul.

In the Song of Solomon we see a beautiful picture of what our relationship with God should be.

Song of Solomon 7:6

How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your charms!

That revelation is for both believer and unbelievers alike. We all need His arms of love to save us for no other source can even come close to His ten thousand charms.

–Wholly Surrender!

One of the most simple company’s by far is Apple. I do not mean necessarily the company structure, but rather their products and platforms. Steve Jobs has struck gold multiple times in his career by taking in demand items and making them simple and therefore beautiful in design and use. Mac’s claim to fame is that they are simple, intuitive, easy to use. We see the same great magic in the iPods and iPhones that are sweeping the globe. My iPhone is so simple my 3 year old nephew picked up for the first time and within minutes was opening apps, taking pictures, and changing settings I really didn’t want changed.

Quite simply Jobs and Apple have discovered that simplicity is beautiful both in our hearts and in our lives. We crave it. We seek it. We are always looking for the next great thing that will make our lives simpler. Have you ever wished you could just go back to your childhood. You know back to when things were “simpler.” Back before you had to plan, worry, bear burdens, fix problems, meet deadlines, fulfill expectations, etc…

However the Bible tell us that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc. 1:9). So we know Jobs was not the first to have the revelation that simple is beautiful.

Actually that thought originated with God (as all good thoughts do). If fact Christ Himself, taught on it many many years ago.

Matthew 6:25-34

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Christ is trying to warn us that the only life that honors God is one of simplicity. One that has a narrow and concrete focus. One that is only concerned with God and His purpose.

At another point in His ministry Christ was asked to simplify the entire law, and pinpoint the the most important thing for His followers to do. His response was:

Matthew 22:36-40

And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Did you catch that? Simple right? Everything the Lord commands of us as His followers can be simply summarized in these two statements. Love God. Love Others.

Now granted living out those two statements is not nearly as simple. Still the message is so simple a child can understand it. Now it is just a matter of our willingness to surrender our lives and will to His Lordship so that the Beauty of Simplicity can be manifested in our own lives.

I will leave you with this great song from Telecast. I hope that is helps encourage and inspire you to seek the Beauty of Simplicity in your own life.

–Wholly Surrender!

Aaaron burst on to the scene back in 2005 with his first album, Anything Worth Saying. He quickly gained a loyal following with his Rock n’ Roll infused anthems of worship. He followed up with his sophomore release, Whispered and Shouted, which rocked the charts and propped Him up as a major player in the Christian music market. So now his third full length album is out and just as great as the first two.

The two radio releases off this album so far, To God Alone and Come and Save Us, are good, but not favorites. To God Alone is a nice ballad proclaiming the truth that God alone is worthy of our worship. Come and Save Us has a much more driving rock beat to match the gut wrenching cry for divine rescue.

My personal favorite tracks on the album are Forever, Live to Lose, and Ever After. Forever is a great congregational song that declares the supremacy, everlasting, and majestic character of God. Live to Lose on the other hand has a more laid back coffee shop feel and confesses the necessary response to the message of Forever, that we are nothing apart from Him. Finally probably my all time favorite Shust song is Ever After. This song departs from his usual worship genre, and rather takes a more folky approach to  address the world his children are faced to live in and how we deal with that as followers of Christ. I love his brutal honesty and broken heart in this song, plus it has a fun little spunky groove.

Although Whispered and Shouted is still probably my favorite Shust album this one is a very close second. I would highly recommend you pick it up. You can do so on iTunes for $10 or, for a limited time, an autographed copy on his website for $10 plus shipping.

As always Buy don’t Burn!

–Wholly Surrender!

Christy either wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 11 songs, and all of the best ones. The title track, Life Light Up, is certainly one of the best on the album and offers up a new and refreshing metaphor for Christ’s light in us. The Song of the Beautiful is another one of my favorites as it speaks the dichotomy of truth about Christ’s beauty in our brokenness. I also am greatly moved and encouraged by the lyrics of A Mighty Fortress. This tune has great lyrical depth and is rooted in biblical truth, very reminiscent of the hymns of old.

On the album Christy also covers a few great new worship songs including Hosanna by Brooke Fraser and Marvelous Light by Charlie Hall.  Also in several of the songs you can still hear Nathan’s (Christy’s hubby) influence with movement and harmonies that Watermark fans will love.

You can pick up this new fantastic album at Musichristian.com for $7 or get an immediate download on iTunes for $8.

As always Buy don’t Burn!

–Wholly Surrender!

Beyond having great insight into God’s love Michael Gungor and company have a whole album of soul searching lyrics and heart moving melodies. You can hear more from this group and pick up their album on iTunes for a mere $10. A total steal for this diamond in the rough.

As always Buy Don’t Burn!

–Wholly Surrender!

So in light of all that I have been asking questions like What is love? Is there such thing as unconditional love? If so who is capable of exhibiting unconditional love? Can love exist without outward expression of said love? Does love exist if it is not received by the intended party? Can love truly be reciprocated or can we just also love that person the way we have been loved? What does God’s love look like? sound like? feel like? act like? And most importantly as Christians how can we ever possibly love like the Almighty God? 

Well before we get any further into to this post let me just confess that as Todd Agnew so eloquently phrased it on his latest album, “I’ve got better questions, than I have answers…”. I believe love is quite possibly the most complex notion next to God himself, and therefore do not propose to have any of this figured out. Rather as I was doing my devotion this morning all these thoughts came rushing back to me again. Here is what I read from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest:

The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “. . . love one another as I have loved you” ( John 15:12 ). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.

I know that is true of me. So many times I try to force myself to love people like God has loved me, but I seem to quickly to lose sight and strength, and then I fail. I fall short. I miss the mark, and once again the name of Jesus is marred. It is so frustrating and so defeating. It is a constant reminder that He is God and I am not. That on my own I am not able to love as He loves. 

So I find myself once again with more questions than answers. The biggest of which is “How do I love people with God’s true and perfect love?” While I have not yet found an answer I have come to one conclusion. The answer will never be found in a formula or 7 step how-to book. Why? Because God’s love has to come from a regenerated and surrendered heart, and for every believer that timeline and process looks a little bit different. 

The only thing I know for sure is that God does love me and he rescued me from death with that love. I also know that there are people all around me, every day that are needing and wanting and searching to be rescued from death. So although I know often I will fail and fall short I will press on in His strength and love to help rescue the perishing for His Kingdom. For what I can never do alone, He can do through me if I am willing and obedient. 

So here’s to love. 

-Wholly Surrender. 

Just a quick Mad Music Monday update. We were blessed this past week to be able to hook up with Robbie Seay Band for an upcoming show. They were going to be in the area and offered to come and bless us with concert.

So Monday April 27th at 7:00 pm Eden Community Church will be hosting Robbie Seay Band and special guest Sarah Reeves at the Days Inn Conference Center in Eureka Missouri. The address is 15 Hilltop Village Centre Dr., Eureka MO 63025.

It is a general admission show and tickets are only $10 per person. The show will start at 7:00 pm and doors will open at 6:30 pm.

You can pick up tickets online at www.edencommunity.org or by calling 1-800-965-9324. Also if you need more information you can email me at mmathis@edencommunity.org.

Please help us spread the word by passing out/hanging up the flier in your area of influence, and by talking up to all your friends and churches. We have a limited amount of time until the show is here so we need to hit it hard. Thanks for the help and support.

–Wholly Surrender!

–Wholly Surrender!

Top 3 Albums:

1. Jimmy Needham- Not Without Love

2. Tenth Avenue North – Over and Underneath

3. Bebo Norman – Bebo Norman

Top 3 Books:

1. Sex God – by Rob Bell

2. Searching for God Knows What – by Donald Miller

3. Porn-Again Christian – by Mark Driscoll

Top 3 Movies:

1. Traitor

2. The Dark Knight

3. Juno

Top 3 TV Shows:

1. Criminal Minds

2. How I Met Your Mother

3. LOST

Top 3 New Websites:

1. i am second.com

2. advent conspiracy

3. noise trade

Top 3 Blogs:

1. Collide Magazine

2. Fact Check

3. iPhone Atlas

Top 3 Causes:

1. World Vision

2. Living Water International

3. International Justice Mission

Top 3 Passages/Verses:

1. Philippians 2

2. John 21

3. John 3:30

I know some of you could care less about what my personal top three are, but at least now it is down for public record.

–Wholly Surrender!