So I recently joined a new gym. I had been going to the same gym I went to in high school as a part of a family plan with my parents, but apparently you can't be on a family plan as a child past the age of 24. So that means A.) I must officially be an adult and 2.) I decided to look for a cheaper option and settled on L.A. Fitness. It's funny. I didn't want to pay the price of my old gym, but now I'm paying more anyway because I decided to start doing personal training. I get one 30-minute session a week and I love it because it helps me get better, but it's also super humbling. As in, if I weren't so secure, it might even feel humiliating.
Now, don't get the idea that these feelings have anything to do with L.A. Fitness or the trainers at my local gym — just the opposite. It's humbling because even though I know it's great for me and I'm growing, it also reveals a lot of weaknesses I didn't even know I had.
I'm not a typical girly-girl and I've played sports my whole life, so I'd like to think I'm not a beginner when it comes to training. I even took weight training in high school for a year.
NOPE.
I feel like I've never lifted a weight before in my life. I knew my back was weak because because it runs in the family. I knew that my knees were a little weak from the runners knee I got in high school. But I didn't know how weak my back and my knees are. Or that my ankles are weak. I sprained one before my senior year of high school, but it hasn't really bothered me since. I feel like an idiot knowing I have weak ankles, like a stereotypical damsel in distress who doesn't belong in the gym.
SAVE ME, WONDERBOY!
But really. WEAK ANKLES IS A THING AND I HAVE IT.
The point is, in order to get better, I need to keep going to the gym and to my personal training session every week. And it's not like I can pretend I don't need to improve while I'm there. I can't act like I've got everything together because I won't get better if I do. And even if I tried, it wouldn't work. My trainer can tell just by looking at me doing an exercise what parts of my body are weak. He asks me about my eating habits and calls me out on my bad form.
And you know what? IT'S GREAT and I wish it were this easy to have accountability in my spiritual life. I wish that once a week, I could show up at Starbuck and a friend could just look at me and say, "Your prayer life is really weak. We need to strengthen that up. Here, let's do some prayer curls," or "I can see that you haven't been working on your tithing lately."
But it's not that simple. It's easier to disguise your spiritual and emotional weaknesses, and it's often harder for our friends and families to call us out on them. But it's what we so desperately need, and we have to be intentional to cultivate it. Just like I'm not going to get healthier physically on accident, I'm not going to grow spiritually without putting in the work and allowing someone to hold me accountable.
How do you guys let yourselves be vulnerable and held accountable? Is it taking it too far to wear a sign around my neck that says, "Please don't accept my crap answers—make me be honest"?
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Why We Should Keep Singing Oceans
I know this is totally behind the times, but today I heard the song "Oceans" twice while at work, so I couldn't help but think about this article that came out about a month ago.
If you haven't read the article, it is a good read and proposes that people need to stop singing a song about reaching new levels of faith in the Lord if singing about them is all we're going to do.
It says (regarding the bridge),
And on one hand, I don't entirely disagree. It is no secret that hypocrisy, whether intentional or not, is present in the Church, and many of the points in the article are pointedly true. So what should we do with this information? Stop singing a powerful song? Ignore the issue and keep going as if we were none the wiser?
As someone who is passionate about musical worship, I think it's vital to address this issue.
Reading about walking on water naturally reminds me of Peter's story in Matthew 14:22-33.
As Christians, we laud Peter's faith that he was able to walk on the water, yet we rarely discuss the ramifications of the fact that it was only for a brief moment. Perhaps even a split second.
When it comes to the faith and actions of the church today, I think it is especially important that we ruminate for a moment on verses 30 and 31:
"But when he [Peter] saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of liuttle faith, why did you doubt?'" (ESV)
So yes, I sing "Oceans" and continuously fail to live up to the bold claims I've been singing. Just like Peter. God demands perfection, yet that perfection will never EVER come from me. (CAN I GET AN AMEN HALLELUJAH??) That's kind of the whole point. I am so unbelievably imperfect that I will fail God until I am fully sanctified through His love and power (as in, not on this earth. Read more about that new earth in Revelation 21).
We definitely need to examine our hearts closely when we partake in musical worship, and not just for this song. Yet, blatant hypocrisy aside, I don't think we should discourage people from singing "Oceans" or any other biblically-based song. We all have a little bit of Peter within us -- we are quick to feel, yet collapse almost immediately upon acting ::ahem, Peter ALL THE TIME:: (Luke 22:31-34; 54-62). We may truly desire for God to lead us away from our borders, no matter how uncomfortable that may be in the moment, but at some point we will undoubtedly fail. I can actually guarantee it.
This need not keep us from worshiping and seeking deeper relationship with our God, for Christ has bridged the gap. He has achieved perfection in order that we may be counted righteous (Romans 3:22-24)! I love that upon rising from the grave, Jesus gives Peter the chance to affirm His Lordship three times, as if to say, "See, how I am wiping the slate clean," (John 21:15-19).
Musical worship can be a powerful time of communion with God. Let us not limit that because of our inability to perfectly live out everything we sing. Instead, let us strive in God's power while remembering to walk in His GRACE.
If you haven't read the article, it is a good read and proposes that people need to stop singing a song about reaching new levels of faith in the Lord if singing about them is all we're going to do.
It says (regarding the bridge),
"NOTHING in those two lines of lyrics is going to feel good when you are going through it. You are singing, with your hands raised high, for God to make you uncomfortable… and then you feel the nudge- the nudge to buy a coffee for a homeless man or confess a sin to your small group or share about something that happened in your past, AND YOU DON’T DO IT.
I don’t either.
And every time I hear that song, I feel convicted for the way I sing it but refuse to live it."
And on one hand, I don't entirely disagree. It is no secret that hypocrisy, whether intentional or not, is present in the Church, and many of the points in the article are pointedly true. So what should we do with this information? Stop singing a powerful song? Ignore the issue and keep going as if we were none the wiser?
As someone who is passionate about musical worship, I think it's vital to address this issue.
Reading about walking on water naturally reminds me of Peter's story in Matthew 14:22-33.
As Christians, we laud Peter's faith that he was able to walk on the water, yet we rarely discuss the ramifications of the fact that it was only for a brief moment. Perhaps even a split second.
When it comes to the faith and actions of the church today, I think it is especially important that we ruminate for a moment on verses 30 and 31:
"But when he [Peter] saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of liuttle faith, why did you doubt?'" (ESV)
So yes, I sing "Oceans" and continuously fail to live up to the bold claims I've been singing. Just like Peter. God demands perfection, yet that perfection will never EVER come from me. (CAN I GET AN AMEN HALLELUJAH??) That's kind of the whole point. I am so unbelievably imperfect that I will fail God until I am fully sanctified through His love and power (as in, not on this earth. Read more about that new earth in Revelation 21).
We definitely need to examine our hearts closely when we partake in musical worship, and not just for this song. Yet, blatant hypocrisy aside, I don't think we should discourage people from singing "Oceans" or any other biblically-based song. We all have a little bit of Peter within us -- we are quick to feel, yet collapse almost immediately upon acting ::ahem, Peter ALL THE TIME:: (Luke 22:31-34; 54-62). We may truly desire for God to lead us away from our borders, no matter how uncomfortable that may be in the moment, but at some point we will undoubtedly fail. I can actually guarantee it.
This need not keep us from worshiping and seeking deeper relationship with our God, for Christ has bridged the gap. He has achieved perfection in order that we may be counted righteous (Romans 3:22-24)! I love that upon rising from the grave, Jesus gives Peter the chance to affirm His Lordship three times, as if to say, "See, how I am wiping the slate clean," (John 21:15-19).
Musical worship can be a powerful time of communion with God. Let us not limit that because of our inability to perfectly live out everything we sing. Instead, let us strive in God's power while remembering to walk in His GRACE.
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