God sounds like...

a while ago our church did a series titled, "God sounds like".  they went through different genres of music and paralleled the composition style of the music to characteristics of God (i'm having a hard time describing it so i'm going to go ahead and stick with that description). 

i kept waiting for the hip-hop / pop music week.  it didn't happen.  don't get me wrong.  the series was way good, but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't a wee bit disappointed. 

it got me thinking...  and listening to the radio with a bit of intentionality.  if God were to be captured by a hip-hop / pop song, which song would it be?  at first look, i realized that my kids shouldn't be listening to the radio without some serious adult supervision.  there's a ton of songs that have catchy choruses and toe tapping beats that are downright raunchy when you fully listen to the lyrics. 

but i didn't want to give up in my quest. 

here's what i've come up with...  God sounds a lot like bruno mars (grenade).  go ahead, take a listen.  i'll be right here when you return.

 

anyone got my back on this one?  isn't it fair to say that Jesus is a lot like the dude that bruno sings about?  bruno's dude is catching grenades and jumping in front of trains and all he's asking in return is that this girl give him all of her love.  not too much to ask, right?  that's what my man Jesus wants from us too.  He died (on a cross not by a bullet in the brain but on a very real cross... and either way you arrive at the same ending) for us and asks us to love him in return.  He asks us to die for Him, too.  not a physical death but a death from self in exchange for a lifetime in heaven.  not such a bad trade if you think about it. 

the first lines of the song are...

easy come, easy go that's just how you live.  oh, take take take it all but you never give.

i've been thinking of that line a great deal over the past few months.  grace based faith is important for many reasons but it can't just end there.  we can't just take what God has given to us and leave it at that.  we are called to action. 

what does that look like?  sometimes i get caught up in the grander things that God calls some of us to do.  but i think our calling, in its simplest form, produces things like

spending time with Him

in prayer

in His word

in worship (even through a bruno mars song)

it can be a patience with the irritatingly slow lady at the gas station

a kind smile to the momma who's babes are having a meltdown in the grocery checkout

being present in the life of someone going through the challenges life has thrown at them...

the opportunities are endless.

and i must admit, i often miss the mark and don't answer the call of the Holy Spirit to step out of myself and be the girl that gives. 

and so for me, sometimes God sounds like grenade by bruno mars.

but the good news is that the lyrics in my song change.   so can yours.  we all get to choose today to follow a different path.  we get to choose Him and to love Him and to live in a way where we don't just take His grace but answer the call that we hear deep within our hearts.  we get to give back in response to this unbelievable sacrifice made on our behalf.

the end.