Electricity/Light

As most of you probably know, electricity/light is very important to me. I would say that I am addicted to electricity/light, like most people are. Yesterday, I got home from work and we lost electricity from roughly 5:30-9:00. This was especially tough because the Pistons/Wings/Tigers all played and I couldn't watch there. So, I took a nice long nap that was definitely much needed.
This got me thinking about the analogy of "Living in the Light". I definitely think this is a good analogy, but it is used a lot, which is warranted considering it is found often in the Scriptures. One of my favorite classic songs came from this analogy: "In the Light" by DC Talk (the perfect "man" song, in my opinion. Part of the lyrics: "I'm a man of excuses, I've got one for every selfish thing I do").

My first time every doing an inductive Bible Study, I dissected the passage from 1 John 1:5-10.

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

I think the number one thing that sticks out in this passage to me is verse 7. I like to take it in a chronological approach where John is saying that if we walk in the light first, we will have fellowship with one another. When we walk in the light, we seek out a Christ-centered fellowship with others. We can't have the complete view of fellowship unless we are walking in this light that is walking in the true light-God.

This struck a chord to me. As I have transitioned back home and will soon be transition to potentially a far away land, I will be away from the fellowship that I have been surrounded by so often at CMU. Have you ever had a time where you haven't had great fellowship? It sucks and it drags on you. Well, as I'm transitioning, I know I want that fellowship, but the only way I can truly do this and truly embrace the community that I need is living and walking in the light. In other words, we need to have fellowship with the Lord before we can truly get fellowship with others around us.

I want to be as addicted to the true light as I am to artificial light/electricity.

Mighty to Save

I'm a sucker for a good worship song. Too often, I get wrapped up in the thoughts of "Hey, this is a sweet tune" or "The lyrics are kinda cool." Well, I want to go deeper than that. I'm gonna take a look at the song "Mighty To Save" by Hillsong (who never ceases to amaze me with their stuff). Some of the things I want to look at: Where are the lyrics coming from? What can I learn from this song? Where does this fit in Biblically? Etc.

Here are the lyrics:

Everyone needs compassion
A love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen King

Obviously, "Mighty to Save" is the key phrase in this song. I did a word search for that, and found two references with this phrase. The first one is in Isaiah 63:1 where the Lord says "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." This is a sweet reference, as it is the Lord really showing his power and perfectness. However, I'm not gonna dive into this as much as the other reference. There's more I could get into there, but we'll see if I lose my train of thought and head back that way.

The other reference is Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Now, I love Old Testament prophets just because I think they contain so many sweet nuggets that are easy to not notice. So, that being said, I wanted to take a look at Zephaniah as a whole to see if this relates to the whole song. Indeed, it did.

Zephaniah's book had the purpose to show God's judgment that was going to come. Specifically, the book mentions how God will punish the nations. The first two chapters of the book discuss God's judgment for the nations. Even though this is in place, Zephaniah shows how God is going to be merciful to His people. I see this as a book of hope for the people, much like this song by Hillsong.

Take a look at the first verse of this song. Everyone is need of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and kindness of a Savior. Why? Look back at Zephaniah: We deserve wrath. Vs 1:14-15: "The great day of the Lord is near-near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry of the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath...." We are in trouble. That isn't exactly the best news ever. The end of the verse: A hope of nations. We need some hope, we need something to help us overcome this because things don't exactly look good.

Answer: The verse of the song. This references back to vs 3:17 that I mentioned early. God is mighty to save and is the hope we need/have. We can be saved from the wrath because Jesus has not only died, but rose as well. Solid huh?

So there is a brief look into a song that I greatly enjoy. Often, we don't think that songs have a clear gospel message in them, which probably is true. But dissect a song like this, and you might be surprised at how much good stuff they contain. The gospel message in a brief verse and chorus...brilliant!

Blogging Craze

Recently, there has been a massive craze for individuals to transform themselves into what we shall call a "blogger." Whether its blogging about a mission trip, support raising, or any other various reason that individuals may want to blog, the goal is to share some thoughts and ideas with a community of friends. I have decided to jump aboard this craze.

Now, I'm gonna be completely honest. One big reason I joined was to have a link list on my page so that I can easily keep track of everyone else. However, I also hope to impart some thoughts through my posts as I live a life that, if I must say so, is very crazy at times. So jump aboard, buckle up, and keep rockin' out.