Welcome to Tuesday and another edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes. You are invited to a world of music, ministry, melody, and The Messiah (Hallelujah!!!). Thank you for accepting the invitation to a place that makes every effort to make you smile, encourage your joy, engage your mind, enlivens your taste buds for good songs and enhances your study of Scripture. I hope you'll join us as we go...'cause when we get there gonna jump in the air...no one'll see us cause there's nobody there...after all we really don't care...hold on...I am gonna take you there...(kick it horn section...)
Notice the last portion of that statement. One's ego tends to determine their compassion level, their acceptance of others and how often they are willing to admit they were wrong about something.
If you read Tuesday's Musical Notes for very long, you soon see the affection and love of the music by the band Chicago that your humble blog has:
No other artist have found their way into Tuesday's Musical Notes land as often as Chicago. The above blogs detail many of the facts and figures by which this multi decade act has achieved success. Hall of Fame accolades recently, their 50th anniversary and the release of a new album, Chicago XXXVI: Now (as a band have made Chicago the topic of new musical interest. Die hard fans continue to pack out shows and made the documentary Now More Than Ever - The History of Chicago one of CNN's top rate shows over the New Year's break.
So many times we elevate iconic groups to otherworldly status. The CNN documentary gave a perspective that brings Chicago back to earth a bit. Terry Kath's death, via accidental gun shot, drug use and partying at Caribou Ranch (Chicago's V, VII, VIII and X were all recorded there), and the departures of founding members Peter Cetera and Danny Seraphine, were all portrayed in a manner that was at times a bit hard to watch for fans, but realistically portrayed the existence that many successful Rock-N-Roll acts experience. Founding members Robert Lamm (keys and vocals), Lee Loughnane (trumpet and vocals), James Pankow (trombone and vocals), and Walter Parazaider (woodwinds and vocals) are the only original members of the band that continue to tour. At the end of the documentary, the four were seen discussing their history and success and it did not appear that they had many regrets. It seemed very hard for them to say they were sorry for the things in the documentary that were perplexing and relationships that no longer existed.
Recently, my family binged watched the ABC television series Forever. I highly recommend it even though it was canceled after its first season. One episode opened with the statistic that average folks say "I'm Sorry" 8 times a day. This stat comes from the following article: "The sorry truth is we apologise up to eight times a day.. and 233,000 times in our lives" September 13, 2011 thedailymail.com. I suspect most reasonable folks fit this average pretty well. However, it poses the questions. For what do we have to be sorry? Why are we apologizing? Do we apologize enough? What makes it hard to say "I'm Sorry?"
This last question really goes to the point of today's blog. Why is it so difficult sometimes to apologize? An uncredited Facebook post reads:
“Apologizing does not always mean that you’re wrong or the other person is right. It just means that you value the relationship
........more than your ego."
In the best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, author and pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, opens with an astounding statement that many in the world, including me, should contemplate daily..."It's Not About You". This is a difficult pill to swallow because of the nature to which we have been born. Ever since the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, man has been, to some level, obsessed with his wants being served over anything else. It seems that at the receiving of these wants, the desire for more gets even worse. At some point or another a much bigger issue than the lack of being apologetic arises....pride.
These passages are a sampling of the over 100 times the Bible speaks about the issue of being proud or having pride (King James Version) The overwhelming evidence that these verses support is that God does not accept those whose pride exceeds their love for others.
This is a hard topic for many who consider themselves "creatives". Pride seems to come with the territory of their creativity. I confess to you that pride is something I struggle with every day. But there is a way that the sin of pride can be reduced and eventually eliminated. There is hope that our relationship with God is restored on a daily basis. There is another word that Jesus spoke about that is a solution for our pride issues. Repent.
So what does it mean to repent? Perhaps you have heard someone say that repentance is telling Jesus that you are sorry for the wrong stuff in your life. While this is partially true, it tends to raise even more questions like, what is the motivation for your sorrow? Are you truly sorry for the act or sorry that you got caught in the act? More on this at a later time as I contend that a truly sorrowful spirit about committing wrong is a first step in being repentant. For some, saying "I'm sorry" is the easy part. ( I really want to tell you "I'm sorry") But repentance means that you are turning away from that wrong and, by utilizing every sinew of your being, you make the attempt to never do that particular thing again (After all that we've been through, I will make it up to You, I promise to). Sorrow to the point of breaking that habit. Regret that causes a life change. Surrendering your pride to Jesus' forgiveness. (And after all that's been said and done, You're just the part of me, I can't let go...)
So many times I think Christians have convoluted in folks minds what should be a simple process. This summer a recurring theme in many Vacation Bible Schools, regardless of denominational ties, are the ABC's of becoming a follower of Jesus (apply your favorite ABC song here, this was our's this year: Lifeway VBS 2017 Galactic Starveyors - "Over The Moon" ). A - Admit to God that you are a sinner by expressing sorrow and changing your life to not perpetrate that sin again (repent). B - Believe that Jesus is God's Son (respond to everything that Jesus says about Himself). C- Confess your faith (more than belief) in Jesus as the Savior of your life to everyone you know. Admit, Believe, Confess. It really is that simple.
All it takes is a swallowing of our pride to realize that it really isn't that hard to say "I'm sorry". All it takes is embracing humility to Get Away from the sin that so easily besets us. Doing so ensures that He will never let you go...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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