Day 9

Welcome Back!

I am currently in the middle of a month long challenge, 30 days to be exact, to listen to nothing but Christian music. The inspiration for this challenge was to see what kind of effect that it might have on me, and my faith. So far it has been very rewarding, but if you would like to know more about what I am hoping to get out of this, then I suggest that you go and read my very first blog. And if you are curious about the effect that it might be having on me, and my life, then I suggest you go read any of the other blogs up till this point. Now, let’s get back into the blog!

The topic for today’s blog hit me this morning as I was listening to the radio on my way back from church, and too the grocery store. However, the song that inspired me to write this blog was not the song that I heard. I heard a song by the same artist, and that got me thinking about all his songs, which naturally lead me to think about the very first hit song that he had, which is the song that we will be talking about today. Now, the song that I am talking about is called “More like Falling in Love” by Jason Gray, and if you have heard it before, then you will know just how challenging the lyrics of the song are. In fact, this song is so challenging to any preconceived notions that might be out there about the church, that when it first released it was barred from some Christian radio stations. There were a lot of people out there who didn’t like the message that it had, because it basically called them out for not seeking a relationship with Jesus. However, after a while, the song did catch on at Christian radio stations, and that is where I first heard it. I heard it on K-Love, and I distinctly remembering that I loved the song within 10 seconds of hearing it. The reason that I loved it so much though was not because of the lyrics, I grew to appreciate and love those later, but it was because of the tune.

Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to hype of the lyrics like I did and then spend all of my blog talking about the music. I will dissect the lyrics as best I can shortly, but before we get to that, I do feel as though I should talk about the music a little bit. The song opens up with a drum/clap section that kind of sets you up for what you are about to hear, and then after a couple seconds of that, the music just burst in triumphantly. The music is a piano solo, mixed with a collections of “Whooooo’s” from Gray, and the song is just marvelous. I remember listening to this song on repeat, JUST because of that intro to the song. When I first heard that, I was hooked immediately. So when you listen to the song, be sure to listen for that intro, and just soak it in. Now, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this song, the lyrics.

The song wastes no time in establishing what it is here to do. It begins with “Give me rules, I will break them/ Show me lines, I will cross them/ I need more than a truth to believe/ I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes/ To sweep me off my feet” In the first verse, the song explains that the artist feels as though he can’t do right. If you give him rules, he is gonna break them. If you give him lines not to cross, he will cross them. Now I don’t know about you, but I for sure have felt that way in my own life! Jason then goes on to talk about how he doesn’t need a truth to believe, he needs a truth that lives, moves, and breathes. What he is saying is that he doesn’t want a code to live by, he needs to have a person to live for, and that person that he is referring to is Jesus. This is a fundamental truth that is found in the New Testament, and is especially prevalent in Paul’s writings. If you read any of Paul’s letters, but especially the books of Corinthians and Ephesians, you will see Paul talking about it is through faith in Christ, and a personal relationship with him that we are saved. Not by our works. Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it best when it says “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvations in not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

The main chorus continues to challenge the notion of just following rules and living your best life by saying, “It’s gotta be, more like falling in love, than something to believe in/ More like losing my heart, than giving my allegiance/ Called up, called out, come take a look at me now/ It’s like I’m falling, oh, It’s like I’m falling in love” In the main chorus, Jason makes the claim that your faith shouldn’t come from following rules or doing the right thing, instead, it should come from a relationship with Jesus Christ. And that relationship should feel like you are falling in love, almost in the same way that you fall in love with a person on this earth. Now, I know from my own life, that is a lot easier said than done. This is something that I struggle with in my own life, but my hope is that doing this challenge will help me to get to this point, where I feel like I am falling in love with Jesus every day.

The last thing that I want to talk about in terms of this song is the second verse, because this verse gives probably the most eye opening line in the whole song. It goes, “Give me words, I’ll misuse them/ Obligations, I’ll misplace them/ ‘Cause all religion ever made of me was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet/ It never set me free” Wow.. when I first heard this song, and I heard that, I was like dang… I feel that. And the crazy thing is, I still feel that to this day! And I am sure that some of you do too, because that is the thing. When you constantly feel like your every move is being watched, and you have to perform in order to make satisfaction, there is no release in that. As Jason put it, you just feel like a sinner with a stone tied to your feet. And that feeling can be one of the worst feelings in the world. It is also probably the biggest reason why people step away from the faith, and walk away from God. So I hope that after listening to this song, and reading this blog, you will try to let your relationship with God feel more like falling in love, as opposed to following a bunch of rules. I know that I am going to try and do that myself. Thank you for reading, and may God bless you in your life.