Hi there!! Welcome to Tuesday and Tuesday's Musical Notes, where sometimes we go into the weeds, chase a few rabbits, and occasionally, just occasionally, we drop off into deep water and cause ourselves to pause...and go hmmm... Welcome to sometimes as today we dig in a little deeper and challenge some of the ways that I was raised to think about life, theology, and of course MUSIC!!! It's Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! Did you see a rabbit in a waistcoat? Makes you wonder...
INXS formed in 1977 when brothers, Andrew, John, and Tim Farris joined up with fellow Aussies, Garry Gary Beers, Kirk Pengilly, and Michael Hutchence. Their primary success came in the 80s and lasted into the early 90s.
While not announcing a permanent retirement, INXS performed their last concert on November 11, 2012. It seemed they never quite recovered from lead singer Michael Hutchence's death in November of 1997 as they had a merry go round of lead singers come into the band. They even went so far as to have a reality show, 2005's Rock Star: INXS, to find and sign a lead after several years of touring with different faces at the fore. While winner, J.D. Fortune, would spend six years with the band, he too would go his own way in 2011. The band soon after announced their last concert and haven't recorded a studio album since Original Sin in 2010. To date, INXS has sold over 60 million records and still gets airplay around the world.
Today's feature song, "Devil Inside", peaked at #2 and staying there for 2 weeks. It would be the band's 21st overall single and their 9th of their top 40 hits. It tied with the highest chart ranking the band had since "The One Thing" single also made it to #2. "Devil Inside" would become the 46th biggest hit of 1988 in the year-end countdown and cement INXS as a force from down under during the 80s.
The song speaks to a common ideology that everyone one of us has a "devil inside". This mentality permeates modern-day thinking and seems to be used as a crutch at times for wrongdoing. This thought process isn't something new. In fact, it was pretty well demonstrated often in Biblical times.
We established last week that Joseph's brothers were very jealous of his obvious most favored status. In the words of Star Wars' Master Jedi Yoda...“Envy leads to jealousy, jealousy leads to hate, hate leads to anger, and anger leads to the dark side.” Joseph's brothers at the very least were fast-tracking themselves to the dark side and at the most feeding the devil inside with their hatred.
Israel sent Joseph to go check on his brothers and the flocks in which they tended in the land of Shechem. Remember, this is the place that the sons had already gotten into some difficulties. (Tuesday' s Musical Notes - "You Don't Mess Around with Jim")
The brothers had moved on from Shechem to the land of Dothan. In essence, they weren't where they were supposed to be. Joseph got instructions on where they would be and went to find them. The brothers saw Joseph from a distance. The sight of Joseph, even in the distance, so inflamed the brothers that they chose to do something about it.
It seems the devil inside Joseph's brothers was too much for them to handle as this was the last day they would see Joseph in a very long time.
Perhaps this story has reminded you of a time where you made a poor decision due to envy, greed or other things that fed your devil inside. This happens to everyone. Believers are not relinquished from the deception of the enemy and emotions that feed the wrong thoughts and ultimately the wrong deeds that are done.
We've talked about this many times, but the only thing that defeats our devil's inside is love. Jesus commanded us to love God and then love everyone else. How is that going for us? Loving God and others is really a difficult thing for us to do. In fact, God tells us our ways are not His in Isaiah 55: 8-11 NASB/The Message/KJV And it seems that even the church proves this fact to be true..."Mo's Past is Revealed to Zoey" - Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
Please do not misunderstand what we are attempting to say. We ARE NOT advocating sin in people's lives. We ARE advocating that the church should show so much love to the sinner, that Holy Spirit has an opportunity to do his job...convict folks of their sin.
Greg Laurie does a better job explaining it: "Love with Authenticity" - Greg Laurie devotions, harvest.org
For too long the church has taken up a role it was never intended to have, thus allowing the devil inside to come out of us in the judgment of people and condemning them, instead of loving them and getting out of Holy Spirit's way to do his job. Or as this blog posits: "Why Are Christians so Mean?" by Gary Thomas, churchleaders.com February 29, 2020
Imagine the damage done to the kingdom over the years in the name of Kingdom Work, but not in the name of Love.
Please understand the message of today's Notes. The love that we have on display for everyone, will always be more powerful than the devil inside of us. It can be a magnet that works with Holy Spirit to draw folks to Himself. He then convicts and guides them away from the "devil inside" aspects of their lives.
"Here come the world
With the look in its eye
Future uncertain but certainly slight..."
Future uncertain but certainly slight..."
This is the world in which we live. But it doesn't have to be. If believers, strive to love like God loves, the future of our friends, family, and the folks we encounter can be certain as they are drawn to a conciliatory relationship with God through the Good News of Jesus sacrifice and the power of Holy Spirit.
Or as another philosopher once put it..."All you need is love, love...love is all you need..."
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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