I love Christian Rap. Every song is like a sermon with a beat. The lyrics and message are strong and they don't compromise. It seems to me that in many genres of music, the Christians are about 10 years behind the culture. Christian rap is ahead of the game in my opinion. Secular rap feels like it is all about the beat and the lyrics don't matter at all. Christian rap has substance and content in addition to good beats.
I have really been struck by Andy Mineo's new EP. There are definitely a few really good songs on it. It was also nice to see a fun song or two. Andy's personality really shows through when he does that. My favorite song on the album however is called "Death of Me."
In "Death of Me" Andy relates his struggles as a traveling artist on tour. "Yea, it must be a struggle making all that money playing your music" one might think. That's the beauty of Christ in the lives of His people. We recognize when we are going astray spiritually and are not close to God. The Bible describes unbelievers as completely numb to those feelings of the Spirit. We however have tasted of God and know that he is the one we need.
The second set of verses really hit home with me. Andy talks about the challenges of making time to commune with God and enjoy his presence. When I get busy, I know one of the first things to go is my prayer life. It's so easy to be focused on other things and forget to make time to be with God. The problem is that we begin to slip far away and not even know it. Next thing you know we forgot what communing with our Savior is like and we are so distracted by other things that we don't even think to come to him.
One line that really struck me falls towards the end of the second set of verses. "I feel like God's calling dudes, they just want to play Call of Duty." This line really hit me because there have been times in my life when I spent a lot of my free time gaming. You see I am a very passionate person. Whenever I set my heart to do something or pursue something, I want to be the best there is at it. The sad thing is that I have sometimes set that passion on the most trivial fleeting things like video games. Playing all of the time just trying to get better and better. All for what? To what end? You know I never stopped to think about it. I just thought that I liked the game and I wanted to get good at it. In the end however, it was a trap. A trick and a lie to waste the time, energy, and passion that God gave me.
However, the application of this truth applies to more people than just gamers. I certainly do think many great minds and passionate hearts during our day have been caught up in this industry. There are many shiny baubles and distractions for human beings, though. How many things there are in the world to pursue! We have so many options to spend our time and energies on in our day. How many are spurning God's call on their lives so that they can waste their time doing things that don't matter at all?
I don't mean to criticize those who may be legitimately called to secular positions. Praise God for people who will work as unto the Lord in any industry that that glorifies God and promotes human flourishing. However, I know that I have at many times in my life put the calling that I knew was mine on the back burner because I wanted to spend more time doing what I wanted to do. Already I wish I had those years back. I can only imagine my sorrow and regret if I had wasted my entire life pursuing vanity.
I have really been struck by Andy Mineo's new EP. There are definitely a few really good songs on it. It was also nice to see a fun song or two. Andy's personality really shows through when he does that. My favorite song on the album however is called "Death of Me."
In "Death of Me" Andy relates his struggles as a traveling artist on tour. "Yea, it must be a struggle making all that money playing your music" one might think. That's the beauty of Christ in the lives of His people. We recognize when we are going astray spiritually and are not close to God. The Bible describes unbelievers as completely numb to those feelings of the Spirit. We however have tasted of God and know that he is the one we need.
The second set of verses really hit home with me. Andy talks about the challenges of making time to commune with God and enjoy his presence. When I get busy, I know one of the first things to go is my prayer life. It's so easy to be focused on other things and forget to make time to be with God. The problem is that we begin to slip far away and not even know it. Next thing you know we forgot what communing with our Savior is like and we are so distracted by other things that we don't even think to come to him.
One line that really struck me falls towards the end of the second set of verses. "I feel like God's calling dudes, they just want to play Call of Duty." This line really hit me because there have been times in my life when I spent a lot of my free time gaming. You see I am a very passionate person. Whenever I set my heart to do something or pursue something, I want to be the best there is at it. The sad thing is that I have sometimes set that passion on the most trivial fleeting things like video games. Playing all of the time just trying to get better and better. All for what? To what end? You know I never stopped to think about it. I just thought that I liked the game and I wanted to get good at it. In the end however, it was a trap. A trick and a lie to waste the time, energy, and passion that God gave me.
However, the application of this truth applies to more people than just gamers. I certainly do think many great minds and passionate hearts during our day have been caught up in this industry. There are many shiny baubles and distractions for human beings, though. How many things there are in the world to pursue! We have so many options to spend our time and energies on in our day. How many are spurning God's call on their lives so that they can waste their time doing things that don't matter at all?
I don't mean to criticize those who may be legitimately called to secular positions. Praise God for people who will work as unto the Lord in any industry that that glorifies God and promotes human flourishing. However, I know that I have at many times in my life put the calling that I knew was mine on the back burner because I wanted to spend more time doing what I wanted to do. Already I wish I had those years back. I can only imagine my sorrow and regret if I had wasted my entire life pursuing vanity.
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