Welcome to a Chess kind of Tuesday! We want to invite you to join us on our journey as we explore the musical landscape from the perspective of The Message literature. This is an interesting combination at times and we hope you enjoy the flashbacks, future promises, and occasional fantastic leaps of the imagination. We really do appreciate your patronage and hope you will return each week!
Welcome to a Checkers kind of Tuesday!
Over the years you have joined us by going to your favorite search engine and searching "Tuesday's Musical Notes". Thank you SOO MUCH!!! This works out really well and provides great feedback for me. However, if I may be so polite as to ask, when perusing your favorite blog, would you click on the actual title of the "Note of the Week"? This gives me an accurate accounting of styles, bands, Scripture, etc you find the most engaging. For example; today you would go to tuesdaysmusicalnotes.blogspot.
Welcome to a Backgammon kind of Tuesday!
We launch today with a band that we didn't realize was one of our favorites. We recently acquired a "Best of The Spinners" album and while we didn't recognize all of the titles (we know, we know...we should recognize ALL the titles...) with each successive track we immediately began to realize that part of my soundtrack of the '70s included many of their songs.
From 1961 to 1995, The Spinners (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rubberband Man" (The Spinners)) had 30 singles chart in Billboard's Hot 100, with 7 of those songs making it into the top 10. So today, we welcome you to a Monopoly kind of Tuesday with the #5 hit from 1975, here are The Spinners with "Games People Play". Is it our turn yet?
It really is a Scrabble kind of Tuesday!!!
With Philly house band MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother (TSOP, T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia) Extended Version (From Love Train: The Sound of Philadephia)) providing instrumental backup, The Spinners took today's featured song all the way to #1 on Billboards R&B Singles Chart and peaked at #5 on Billboard's Hot 100. "Games People Play" was one of 2 singles released from the band's 6th studio album, the 4th (and last) produced by keys player, Thom Bell and recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philidelphia.
"Games People Play" is a song about a relationship that is a little off-kilter. It seems this couple really doesn't have a Clue. They arrange time together and then one of them doesn't show. Through a series of Trivial Pursuits, they "play" around trying to make the relationship work. It's like one of them lives on a Battleship, while the other lives in Candy Land. "That's how it goes sometimes", winds up being the conclusion of The Spinners. And while it is not the ultimate way to have a relationship, it is in this playing of The Game of Life that makes it all work out. ("The 20 Highest Selling Board Games of All Time" by Allen Lee, moneyinc.com)
This couple's struggles are similar to many folks. They "play around" the perimeters of truthfulness and honesty, while in reality find themselves in lies and disillusion. Examples from the Bible of this very "art" abound in the Bible. For today, our focus will be visiting a man named Achan.
Everything is groovy for the new nation of Israel. They have defeated their first town (Jericho) and are on their way to taking the Promised Land as their own. But we know these folks. They are just like us. Somehow amidst the blessings of God, they will mess it up. (Recurring theme? I think SO!!!)
Prior to going into the Promised Land, the Israelites were given specific instructions about what they could and could not do. After Jericho's walls fell, somebody couldn't obey that 1 instruction. A man from the tribe of Judah named Achan decided he would play games with what God had instructed. He took some of the "could not take" spoils from Jericho for himself causing God's anger to be incurred on the whole nation.
Achan's selfishness was not known to Joshua or the leadership of Israel so they go on to city #2 expecting a similar result to what had happened at Jericho. In reading the Scripture we find that Israel's battleship got sunk. All because of one man's games, Israel's confidence in taking the Promised Land was shattered, they were seen as weak by the other nations they were supposed to defeat, and more importantly, they had lost God's blessing.
At this point, even Joshua reverted to the "why did you bring us across the Jordan to be captured by our enemies" mantra. God tells Joshua; "Get yourself up, wipe your clothes off and get ready for redemption..." (Randy paraphrase). Joshua is obedient and based on God's instructions, calls for a lineup of all the tribes of Israel...then from the tribe selected, all the families will be in the lineup...then all of the households...then man by man.
God singles out Achan as the loser in the game that Achan was attempting to play. God cannot allow sin in His people's lives. The punishment for sin is death (where have I heard that before...Romans 6:23 NASB/AMP/KJV). Joshua is instructed to mete out the punishment on Achan and his family. This seems harsh to our modern-day sensibilities, yet, we must remember that the fledgling nation was struggling to find its identity. There had to be a very high standard demanded of its peoples for their success in taking the Promised Land as God had instructed. HE was that standard and they were to attempt to live up to that.
We are blessed in the fact that Jesus came to be the "death" punishment for our sin if we believe that Jesus was who He said He was and did the things the Bible says He did.
But for those who don't believe in the free pardon that Jesus provides, there is a punishment equal to that of Achan's awaiting. Now is the day of redemption. Time is short. Either through physical death, or Jesus' return believers will one day join God in eternity. Those who do not will receive Achan's punishment in eternity...and worse.
So what is it going to be friend? Will you continue to play the "waiting game" with God. Will you be in a Chess match where after 1 move, God has you at checkmate? Will you get to the end of your life to find that your battleship has already been sunk? Or will you cry out to God, as Joshua did, and beg Him to show you where the sin is in your life? Will you beg God to forgive you for that sin and ask Jesus' death to be the payment for you? Will you be reconciled to God through Jesus for eternity?
Let's get one thing straight. Believers play games with God too. Yet, Holy Spirit is dwelling in the life of the believer to assist in the attainment of God's standard for living. We fall short, but because of Jesus' sacrifice, we are free. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we find ourselves not wanting to be in an "Achan" pattern, but we find ourselves loving God, loving others, and desiring to be more like Jesus every day. We no longer want to be a part of the games people play...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment