since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, made understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
I know that God's creation is blatant evidence of Him, but what if He uses all creativity for His glory? Who are we to put a box on what is evidence of God? Perhaps creativity is just us trying to recreate glimpses of the glory of God. That idea is from Tozer in The Pursuit of God, another reason why you should read it.
Anyways, before I get on too big of a tangent, I want to get to what I was planning to write about: Music!
When people ask me who my favorite band is, I usually say Switchfoot. Their music is awesome, they're Christian, and they're San Diego surfers. How could I not like them? I really like all of their CDs, but their newest one, Hello Hurricane, didn't catch me right away. I don't know if I just got it and forgot to listen to it or what, but I didn't really start listening to it until a few weeks ago before I saw Switchfoot at the San Diego County Fair (Also, their concerts are epic. Great live shows). When I started listening to it, I was blown away. It was so good. I mean I pretty much think all their stuff is good, but this one was really good to me. And the best part was, this CD is more blatantly Christian. Well, either that, or else I'm just picking up on it more. Either way, I was stoked.
One of my instant favorites on the CD is "Enough to Let Me Go." Take a listen and then I'll talk about it. The lyrics are below so you can check those out as you listen.
Oh, I'm a wandering soul
I'm still walking the line that leads me home alone
All I know I still got mountains to climb on my own
On my own
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Do you love me enough to let me go?
To let me follow through, let me fall for you, my love
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Back from the dead of winter
Back from the dead and all our leaves are dry
You're so beautiful tonight
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Back from the dead we went through
Back from the dead and both our tongues are tied
You look beautiful tonight
Do you love me enough to let me go?
But every seed dies before it grows
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Do you love me enough to let me go?
To let me follow through, let me fall for you, my love
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Breathe it in and let it go
Every breath you take is not yours to own
It's not yours to hold
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Do you love me enough to let me go?
To let me follow through, let me fall for you, my love
Do you love me enough to let me go?
When I first heard the song and really thought about the lyrics, I thought Jon Foreman (the lead singer of Switchfoot. I'll talk about him more in another post) was singing about the idea of loving a brother or sister in Christ who is sinning enough to let them go in order to show them the depravity of their sin so they would repent and turn back to Christ. This idea comes from Matthew 18: 15-17. Check it out. However, now that I've listened to the song more and really processed the lyrics, I think Jon is talking about something much different.
Right away, there is an idea of being alone. All I know I still got mountains to climb on my own--On my own. When we are living our lives without Christ, we are alone. We are wandering souls. That's how much Jesus loves us. Bear with me here. He doesn't want us to be mindless robots that love Him because He made us. He wants us to love him because we actually love Him. I think Jon is asking God is He loves us enough to let us go and let us find Him ourselves. And by find Him ourselves, I mean He makes Himself obvious to us but we make the final decision to love Him.
To let me follow through, let me fall for you, my love. He's pursuing us more than we can ever imagine, yet a relationship is nothing if the love is not reciprocated. It reminds me of Song of Solomon, where the man pursues the woman, but he cannot force her out of her home. We are the beloved, and we must fall for Christ.
Back from the dead we went through. It says many times in the Bible that we must die to our old selves and be reborn. This is not a fun process, but it makes life so much better. Notice in each verse, after he talks about death, he says You look beautiful tonight. It's like we can finally see just how beautiful and magnificent He truly is. It required death, but it's so worth it.
I think my favorite line, or at least the one with the most meaning, is but every seed dies before it grows. Wow. That is such a beautiful way to think about our deaths to our sinful lives and our rebirths to our spiritual lives. Our sinful lives are the dirty little seeds that we put in a hole in the ground, similar to Jesus being put in a grave? Wow, the imagery gets even deeper. And then our new lives are represented by trees. Awesome metaphor for that rebirth.
Finally, he talks about breathing and how it's not ours to own. Another blatant Christian idea that we are at the mercy of God all the time. We wouldn't have breath without Him. We wouldn't live without Him. We wouldn't be anything without Him. In my prideful nature, that is a tough pill to swallow. As much as I may think that I'm in control of my life, that is totally bogus. God allows me to live every minute, and He can take that away from me at any moment. It's crazy to think about just how much God does and did for us. Who chose my parents? Not me. Who chose where I was born and grew up? Not me. Who chose my coworkers? Not me. Definitely humbling.
It surprised me just how much imagery is in this song. And this is one song off of one album from one artist. Imagine how much imagery of God is in all music, even if the artist isn't Christian. You'd be surprised at how many God metaphors there are in music and the arts. It's like God sharing his creativity with us.
Thank you Lord for loving me enough to let me go. For letting me die to my old self so I could love You more. For letting me choose to love You instead of forcing me to love You. But most of all, thank You for loving me more than I could ever imagine or experience anywhere outside of You.
Just so you know, I will be doing multiple posts about songs from switchfoot, so check out more of their music, especially the Hello Hurricane CD. Also, listen to needtobreathe's The Outsiders CD because songs from that will be coming up soon as well.
Finally, please let me know your thoughts on this song, whether in person or through a comment. I'd love to hear your opinion of the meaning of the song, and I just love talking to all of you about what God is doing in your lives!
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