On the one hand, I hesitate.
Having been through the meatgrinder on religion and the vast ocean of misunderstanding I had to swim through to find peace on the gentle shores, I don’t want others to face that. Every step of the way I saw where things were wrong-headed, even when lovingly intended. It was wrong because it was built on the wrong foundation. Ripping out all the badly placed assumptions was gut-wrenching and painful. It was enough to bring me to suicide’s door repeatedly. Isn’t there a better way?
On the other hand, I cannot keep silence. Just as the folks who dealt with me had no control over the results of their efforts, I cannot pretend to know how it will turn out for you. I guarantee you that most of the people who produced this music had entirely different ideas about what it means in terms of real-world implementation.
The tone of the song itself implies holding a much stronger grip on the results than what God actually grants. They try to define how God will work, as if they could know. So much confidence and enthusiasm, but making little room for Him to do things they don’t expect. The language is correct and the images proper, but flavored with the wrong assumptions. It’s an entirely different dialect of the same language because the underlying cultural background is entirely different.
Never mind the radical differences between a meat-space ministry and online ministry; the real difference is a whole world of different assumptions about reality itself. It comes from a wholly different assumption about God and His character, and how He operates in this world. Sure, I think my version is better, but that’s not what I bring to you today. Rather, I call upon you to hear His voice for yourself.
You may well be called to some evangelistic mission; go forth. You may also be called to hold steady in place and simply be a rock of faith for others to see or not see; go forth. Don’t hide your faith, but also don’t pretend you can buttonhole folks and demand an emotional psychological conversion. We are all different and one size does not fit all. Maybe you don’t have a lot of natural empathy where you instinctively feel what others feel, particularly in the sense that you can assess how your words and actions impact others. Guess what? God can give you a functional empathy through the Divine Presence in your soul — that’s His nature. Eventually you’ll understand the unique audience He has made for your message.
This sense of unique divine calling flavors everything you because it gives room to the you God made you to be.
