Playing the Background

The Leading Role

The song I am currently listening to isn’t that new, but it is one of my favorites: “Background” by Lecrae, featuring C-Lite. It came out last fall, off of Lecrae’s Rehab album. Reading and writing about things in the entertainment industry, I constantly hear about celebrities in the limelight—I think most of us do. They are everywhere in the media. What I love about this song is that it asks the question: who gets the spotlight in your life? Who has the leading role? Is it you, or is it the Lord?

In the beginning of the song, Lecrae raps:

       It’s evident You run the show, so let me back down 

       You take the leading role, and I’ll play the background 

       I know I miss my cues, know I forget my lines
       I’m sticking to Your script, and I’m reading all Your signs

He Runs the Show

God runs the show. But often times we try to take the leading role. Psalm 115:1 says: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” Not only does the glory of the leading role belong to God, but also the role of Director. Too often we try to be our own king, to live by our own will. But the Bible says: “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). Not Lord of part of your life, but Lord of all of it. 

Step Back

It really comes down to humility and submission—humbling ourselves and coming in total surrender to the King of Kings. We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). Whose script are we sticking to? Sometimes I find myself following my own…and you know what? It never works. The play fails. Because His plan is always the best.  From opening curtain to closing, the Lord has blocked every movement perfectly. And so, brothers and sisters, we need to play the background. Let’s be about His fame. (This is a reminder for myself as well).

Follow your Director, the Writer of the production of life…and step back. Because Jesus is the Lead. It’s not about you or me, all the glory goes to Christ. How amazing that He wrote us into His story! And the background is not an unimportant role…in fact, in Act II—spoiler alert—the Lead comes and dies, saving all the other characters that chose to follow Him. Stay tuned for the epic finale in Act III—His return…and then one amazing After Party.

Until then, tell people about the greatest love story they will ever know. It’s a true story… and if they accept their role, they are invited to know the Writer, Director, and Star personally. It will be the most significant relationship they will ever have. 

Blessings,

Joanne Michelle

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, doing it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thank to God the Father through him.”

-Colossians 3:17, NIV

Stories of the Underdog

The Unlikely Heroes

This other day I watched an old favorite of mine, the 1992 Disney musical “The Newsies.” Just a few days later I watched the made-for-TV movie “The Fall of Sam Axe,” a spin-off prequel of the hit USA Network show “Burn Notice.” These two movies would seem an unlikely pairing for this post, if not for a common theme in both of them: the victory of the underdog. In fact, this theme appears often in American films and television. Hollywood loves a good underdog story. Up against the worst odds, the triumph comes to the unlikely hero.

But there was a place long before Hollywood where we see plenty of underdog stories—the Bible. David and Goliath, Gideon and his 300 men...the Lord delights in using the humble and the weak, that we may know nothing we have done is by our own strength, wisdom, or might, but solely through the grace and power of God!

His Grace is Completely Sufficient

This is meant to be tremendous encouragement for us. Whether you are sharing with a friend about Jesus, or feeling completely drained of all strength, or whatever activity of life you are doing, His grace is sufficient for you, for His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Our strength is found in remaining in Jesus, the True Vine (John 15).

When we are living lives completely dependent on the Lord, people will take notice. In Acts 4:13, the apostles Peter and John are before the Sanhedrin after healing a man in the Name of Jesus. The members of the powerful Sanhedrin were astonished because they saw the boldness of these men, and “perceived they were uneducated, common men…they recognized they had been with Jesus.” How amazing that the Lord uses the ordinary to do extraordinary things, and that when we are weak, He is strong! (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

Encouragement

So brothers and sisters, let us humble ourselves before the Sovereign Lord and stop trying to run on our own strength. Rather, let the joy of the Lord be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). And be encouraged that God does not choose to use us as the world chooses, based on outward appearance—the charm, the good looks, the strength, but He looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). 

Blessings,

Joanne Michelle

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

                                                             -1 Corinthians 1:26-31, ESV

Beauty from Ashes

Brokenness Aside

I came across a song the other day on the Relevant magazine website by the new band Sons and Daughters. They are a duo from Franklin, Tennessee with a newly released EP entitled “Brokenness Aside.” 

In the song, which happens to be the album’s namesake, the duo sings of the amazing forgiveness, faithfulness, and grace of God although we are so unfaithful, so “prone to wander,” as the great song “Come Thou Fount” says. 

They sing:

I am sinner/ if it’s not one thing, it’s another

Caught up in words/ Tangled in lies

But You are a Savior/ And You take brokenness aside

And make it beautiful, beautiful

Beauty Instead of Ashes

What an amazing truth that is. The Lord, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, took our brokenness, our ugliness of sin, and made us beautiful, reconciled to a holy God. In Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV) it says: 

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me to preach the Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

In the Luke 4, after reading the beginning of this passage in a synagogue, Jesus says: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). 

This is one of the first statements Luke records Jesus saying at the start of His ministry. What an incredible introduction to our Savior. Jesus fulfilled this Scripture written hundreds of years earlier, that He would be the one to set us free from all our chains of sin, death, and darkness. He meets us in the ashes of our brokenness and through the power of the beautiful gospel makes us whole in Him. 

And yet, while we are on this earth, we still struggle with sin. We, like Hosea’s wife, continuously fall into unfaithfulness. But that’s why the gospel is not just for nonbelievers. We desperately need the gospel every day, to cling to the wonder of the Cross and what Christ has done for us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be convicted of our sin and repent, not standing condemned because Christ was the Ultimate Sacrifice!

He is Faithful

Brothers and sisters, rejoice in the truth of Jude 24-25. At all times “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23, ESV). 

And check out Sons and Daughters live in the Relevant Studio: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/sons-daughters/songs/25400-brokenness-aside

 

Blessings,

Joanne Michelle

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

-2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV)

Strong Enough to Save

“Be That True?”

The fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga (On Stranger Tides) came out in theaters this weekend and I went with a few friends to check it out. There was one particular conversation that struck me during the film, a dialogue between two pirates and a missionary. The daughter of the infamous pirate Blackbeard says to her father: “Every soul can be saved.” Blackbeard turns to the missionary and says sardonically: “Be that true, young cleric?” The missionary, Philip, replies sincerely: “Yes. Though I see you as a bit of a long shot.” 

The Long Shot

I wonder if in our human perspective we mentally react this way towards nonbelievers. Do you ever write off someone as a “long shot?” Or do you ever feel discouraged by a friend whose heart seems so hard against the gospel? Some of Jesus’ listeners once thought about these questions as well. Jesus had just finished speaking with a rich young ruler, who asked how he could have eternal life. Christ strongly addressed the materialism in his heart and the man went sadly away, unable to lay down his love of worldly possessions. Many who were nearby later asked Jesus: “‘Then who can be saved?’ But he said, ‘What is impossible with men is possible with God’” (Luke 18:26-27). What encouragement that is! It is God who saves, not us. And there is no one whose sin is “too big” for God to forgive, if they accept Him.

Saul to Paul

One of the greatest examples of this is the apostle Paul’s testimony. Through the power of God Paul wrote most of the New Testament and became an incredible missionary for Christ. But he before he was saved he used to be a persecutor of the Church! In fact, Paul even says: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15, NIV). The Lord used the most unlikely “long shot,” to take the gospel to many nations. Amazing. And do you remember the criminals being crucified next to Jesus? One of them was saved while he was hanging on the cross! And so there is hope, even to the end. 

Encouragement

Brothers and sisters, have great hope. Don’t give up on the “long shot,” for it is God who saves souls, not us. We are merely seed planters and “waterers,” but the Lord makes it grow (1 Corinthians 3:6). Continue to faithfully and lovingly share the gospel and your lives with your friends (1 Thessalonians 2:8), and even in the situation where you can’t see progress: “fix your eyes on the unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Also, check out this great video from Tenth Avenue North’s Matt Donehey. He discusses this topic in his video blog about their song: “Strong Enough to Save.”

Blessings,

Joanne Michelle

 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

-Romans 1:16 (NIV)

Jesus Has Overcome

Happy Birthday, Kate

Today is my friend Katelynn’s third birthday in the Presence of her Savior. She went Home to be with Jesus after a car accident on February 7, 2009, when she was only 23. There is so much I could tell you about Kate, about the amazing life she lived for the Lord. And there is much that God taught me through Kate’s life and death, and through the way her family deals with her absence from this earth. But all of that only has meaning because of Kate’s relationship with Jesus first. I was listening to the song “I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin this morning…the lyrics so powerfully speak of the hope we have in Christ. Hope that one day we will be with Him forever. I know I’ve written about longing for that Day a few times now. But this song also tells us why we have this hope: it’s only through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. 

It is Well

The opening lyrics of the song say:  

There’s a peace I’ve come to know/ Though my heart and flesh may fail, 

There’s an anchor for my soul, /I can say “It is well.”  

It’s a pretty big statement to say you have joy and peace no matter what the triumph or the trial... to say “It is well with my soul.” I know Kate had this joy and peace. She understood and believed that God, perfect and holy, loved her so much that He gave His Only Son Jesus to die on the Cross, as the ultimate sacrifice for her sin. And because she placed her faith in Him, she was reconciled to God and could have assurance that when she left this world, she would go to be with the Lord for all eternity. Do you have peace anchored in the Cross? Do you have a steadfast joy, a wellness of your soul, even in the midst of sorrow?

The Victory is Won

In the song’s hook, Tomlin sings: 

Jesus has overcome / and the grave is overwhelmed

The victory is won / He is risen from the dead

The victory is won. Jesus is alive! He has overcome the grave, overcome sin, overcome death. He has offered wellness for your soul. He has offered life. In Christ, there is peace that surpasses all understanding (John 14:27, Philippians 4:7). There is joy that will be your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). There is perfect love that you will never be separated from (Romans 8:38-39). And there is no place left for fear, for that same perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18).

Brothers and sisters, how great a God we serve.

Blessings,

Joanne Michelle

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”

 – John 11:25-26 (ESV)