This probably is the first time I am writing with a genuinely heavy heart. Today I spent majority of it redownloading and going through my iTunes account. One song particularly caught my attention. A song that I have listened to a dozen times. It caught my attention not because it's a piece of musical genius, but because of the truth in it. That song is Slow Fade by Casting Crowns.
The Music Video of the song starts out with a little girl waking up to her parents fighting about the father having an adulterous affair. That part personally hit home, but as I continued on the lyrics are able to hit home for anyone. The song's primary basis is about how compromise leads you somewhere you didn't originally want to go. There are so many people I have been coming into contact with or hear stories about that their actions are leading to a "slow fade." These slow fades start with a compromise in dating, what you watch, who you decide to hang out with, ect. In this Christian walk it is so easy to compromise God for personal and social satisfaction. At times it feels that the enemy is fighting you so hard that walking away or saying "no" is next to impossible. Compromise can seem so small at times, but those small compromises eventually lead to some of the biggest compromises of your walk with God.
The first verse says, "Be careful little eyes what you see, It's second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings." Honestly one of best imageries of how our eyes can lead up to bondage. I think of the things that get put in front of our eyes. Through media we are bombarded with sexualized advertisements and shows. Sex is used to sell us material objects that have no relevance to the means of how its being advertised. I was in a store a few months back and saw a girl in a bikini holding a fly swatter. What purpose does it serve to promote a fly swatter with a woman in a bikini? Christians become so desensitized to the immorality because it just becomes so common. The key to fight the enemy in our society is to pray for the eyes of God. The Church needs to begin to pray for the eyes of God for when pornography is thrown in our face we have the power to look away and move on. The first look may be inevitable, but the second glance is what will enslave you to darkness. I recently read an article that stated that Hollywood is now moving from sexual scenes in movies to violence. In the American culture sex is losing a grip, but hatred and violence is on the rise. I believe it is a natural reaction that if a fight brews in front of us we instantly want to watch. Our human nature is violent. Our human nature feeds on rivalry, jealousy, anger, and bitterness. Our inner flesh tells us something completely contrary to what God's nature is. When we place our eyes on fighting and rivalry on television that's who we become. When we fill our eyes with fighting and violence the very act of loving that God calls us to do we begin to miserably fail. That line in the song really made me reflect on the truth that what we place our eyes before can become apart of us and lead us to go farther into sin then what we originally intended to.
The chorus also sparked so much thought in me. The chorus sings, "It's a slow fade when you give yourself away, it's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray, thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid." I look at Christians who once lived accordingly and are now fading off into the distance and genuinely see where compromise of God's Word have been made. I very much believe that the Bible directly and indirectly addresses every situation and circumstances a human being may ever go to. There are times where you have to dig for that answer, but I believe there is a biblical truth for anything a person may be going through. The Bible is black and white and does not have gray areas. When an area of your life such as alcohol, pornography, lying, ect .that you defined as sin and believe so does God begins turning to gray it becomes a dangerous place for you. The enemy will undoubtingly come to you and begin to tell you that "once isn't bad", "it's what everyone else is doing.", or "your just being to strict." However, what you do with those thoughts will either lead you into compromising God's standard or plan you firmer in Biblical truth. I have heard of a family that who never had alcohol in their house end up having a refrigerator full of beer. That little compromise is an opportunity for the enemy to deceive you into addiction. When those "thoughts invade" and the "choices are made" it is inevitable that the "price to be paid" is sin.
One of the most sobering quotes I've come across is "sin will take you farther than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay." Sin invades us when we aren't clear in our boundaries, willing to compromise for our satisfaction, and not willing to submit to correction. "Slow fades" don't happen in a day. These fades are progressive and often stem from one choice. There is not one of us that is exempt from the possibility of this happening to us, but when deceitful spirits come we must know the Word, be filled with the Spirit, and be submitted to God because the Devil is so deceitful that he may be speaking to us and we never catch if its the Spirit or a spirit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASREBVDsLk
No comments:
Post a Comment