"we're half awake in a fake empire".
aside from the haunting and intricate piano-driven rhythm, this song plays my heartstrings in a way that much "Christian" music does not. No, I don't get the lyrics to the verses either, but I have to say that I can't shake those words from my brain and my soul because it hits a little too close to home.
sometimes I sit in the empty chapel at RTS and play these chords and serenade myself with these words over and over again: to remind me that I am made to be more than half awake.
every once in a while it will hit me. like waking from a dream with a start, Passion will interrupt the lull and lethargy of life-half-awake and I'll wonder how I can live even a moment in such wasteful apathy.
but Passion is a sort-of fragile thing. it has to be nurtured and fed, pursued and invested in. Before we know it, the Fake Empire(s) of the world would have us lured into a dream-like stupor -- either going through life in a cloudy haze of apathy or running after sub-par pleasures (you know the kind of running in a dream, where you expend so much energy but never actually move at all? seems like a textbook illustration of the word hevel, translated in Ecclesiastes as 'meaningless' or 'frustration').
we. are. alive. we're ALIVE! we've been given life, folks, abundant life. not to fall asleep and live half-dead. not to be cogs and puppets and self-centered machines in the Fake Empire of this world. We've been transferred from the Fake Empire to the Kingdom of God!
I could go on for pages and pages more, but chances are, you know where I'm headed because you feel it, too. And if you want to read more, C.S. Lewis really got this -- he's written the most beautiful images about becoming more fully human and more fully alive as we go 'farther up and further in' the Kingdom.
I believe God's designed each of our hearts to quicken for different causes. Okay, overall they quicken for the same things -- the more we know Him, the more our hearts burn for the things for which His heart burns. But within that, He's given us each passions and interests and skills to use for His glory and the good of others.
What are those things for you? What are the things that, when you do them, you feel the Father's pleasure over you?
Nothing makes me feel more alive than when I get to tell people about God's character and our purpose to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. His lovingkindness, His tender compassion, His unending mercy through King Jesus. So discipleship/friendship/counseling is pretty much my favorite way to spend my time.
I am fascinated by cultures and exploring how God's is most glorified by people from EVERY nation, tribe, tongue and people coming together to delight in Him. I want my life to be spent encouraging other peoples to delight, in their own special/God-given way, in King Jesus.
God has given orphans a special place in my heart. And those hurt by sex-outside-of-God's-plan - those trafficked, taken by force, or tricked into believing the lie that it wouldn't affect them.
What are the things that wake you up? That call you back to the reality of the Kingdom?
Music and poetry wake me up. Transparency and honesty and passion within community wake me up. Prayer and the Word wake me up. Sometimes just turning off the TV and closing Facebook help me wake back up.
Let's not give in to the lull and lethargy of the Fake Empire.
