Slow fade, grace and where to look

I thought these three videos complement each other very well. First, a very sharp, sadly true and thought provoking teaching from the lead vocal of Casting Crowns, Mark Hall, about the slow fade that so often happens for Christians when they start to listen to what non-Christians and Satan believe and think and slowly start ignoring the life-giving truths of God:

Keith Green talks about some of the same in this song where he laments the fact that so many of us Christians seem to lose the fire we may have had early on in our walk with Christ, but he comes to a place in the song, and came to that place at the end of his too short life on earth, where he saw that it was and is only the grace of God that we can trust to always sustain and cause us to not fall into sin and stuff that will destroy our lives and bring death in our relationships with God, ourselves and other people (Romans 6:23):

And finally this simple song about what to do when life is difficult, and you’re tempted to listen to the lies of the enemy who wants to bring you into the mud of mediocrity, sin, compromises and counterfeits. All we can do is turning our eyes upon Jesus, the initiator, author, sustainer and perfecter or our faith (Hebrews 12:2):

Blessings, Torben – who is so glad that my relationship with God is not based on what I do/say/think/feel or don’t do/say/think/feel. I’m so glad that everything is built on Jesus who never changes!

Slow Fade

We’re in the midst of a week of many goodbyes here in Kiev, Ukraine. I am in the process of writing down everything I’ve learnt during our 2,5 years here. Quite a task since God has been very gracious to us and taught us many things. Most of what we’ve learned I have already shared about on this blog, but I will certainly continue to process and possibly share some more insights from the last few years on this site.

I have been struck by the powerful lyrics and the thought provoking and challenging video to Casting Crowns’ song Slow Fade (from their latest album The Altar and the Door). It’s a challenging song. And it’s a brave song. It dares to go against what too many evangelical churches forget to tell people today. It dares to say that your choices, what you look at, what you listen to, the people you hang out with, etc. influence you. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody! But in the last five years I’ve been shocked to see how many Christians live under the assumption (lie!) that it doesn’t matter what they watch, listen to, buy, download, and around what people and at what places they choose to spend their time. I remember being laughed at in my Discipleship Training School five years ago when I suggested the thought that if you listen to depressing, secular music and watch sex-focused movies it’ll affect you and eventually lead you farther away from light, life and love. I thought I was stating the obvious (…), but according to many of my fellow students music, movies and tv-shows didn’t affect them at all. Or if it did, they were definitely too strong to let that become a problem.

The rest of us who want to admit that what we watch, say, do and who we spend time with affect us either for good or for bad, should listen to this song and remember that being a forgiven and perfect (at the spirit level) child of God doesn’t mean that we are immune to making poor choices that potentially destroy our lives and the lives of the people around us.

I have seen many of my friends over the years who thought that it didn’t matter what they did and what choices they made. Many of them live lives that are far removed from Christ and many of them certainly don’t experience the life, peace, freedom, love and joy they were hoping for.

I surrender to God and I openly admit that I am capable of making horrible choices. I surrender to his Spirit, and I ask Christ to make the right choices through me. He is strong, even when I’m weak and tempted to choose what will lead me away from the abundant life in Christ! And I’m so glad that I am forgiven and can run to him when I fail and choose what doesn’t bring life and love to me and to others.

Blessings, Torben