nearly two decades later

Last week I got tired of all the music on The Fish (or more accurately, I got tired of all their commercials), so I fished around in the random CD collection that usually rides dormant in my car. Before long I was rocking out to 4Him's 1996 release, "The Message", and reminiscing about all the dances and memories attached to every single word on the album that I still know by heart.

The style of the music certainly betrays the fact that it was written 1.5 decades ago, but I was struck by the truth that is still so true in the lyrics.

"To love God,

Love people,

That's the center of the mark"

"Love is free to grow where heaven's healing waters flow.

Though I may not understand

I'm livin' in the land of mercy."

"To live a love that never fails

Love my neighbor as myself

And to give 'til there is nothing left to give

To live a faith that never dies

To be crucified with Christ

Until all that lives through me

Is the Message."

I am so grateful to stand on Truth that never changes. But as I rejoiced in this fact, I realized just how influential these songs were as I learned them. I self-imposed a rule against secular music until high school, or maybe even college, but I never could have known exactly how that would shape who I am today.

Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, whoever else, never really held that much appeal to me. My best friend, Mary Grace, recorded some songs off the radio onto a cassette tape for my 12 1/2 birthday; I enjoyed the half-song versions she was able to capture of "Bye Bye Bye," "Life After Love," and "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time On You." But I always reverted back to 4Him, Point of Grace and Phillips, Craig and Dean for my mirror concerts and ballet choreography. I cannot explain it, but the Christian music was what I liked, what I thrived on. It never made me popular, but I was not terribly concerned with that anyway.

As I have been thinking back on those years in the last few weeks through the lens of these lyrics, I am astounded to realize what a profound affect they had on my emotional and spiritual development. Even in this last week I have been encouraged to wake up with lyrics of truth fresh on my mind. Nevermind that their styles are beyond outdated, the message resounds and gives expression to my heart's cry. And I am finding that these songs were a critical ingredient in my formation through adolescence: protecting me, guiding me, molding me, focusing me. On the eternal, on the Word, on my King.

For instance, what pre-middle school girl does not need to internalize this truth:

"Well you can doubt your worth

And search for who you are and where you stand

But God made you in His image

When He formed you in His hand

And He looks at you with mercy

And He sees you through His love

You're His child and that will always be enough

For there's more to what you're worth

Than you could ever comprehend

Oh I say the measure of a man

Is not how tall you stand

How wealthy or intelligent you are

I found out the measure of a man

God knows and understands

For He looks inside to the bottom of your heart

And what's in the heart to find?

The measure of a man

You can spend your life pursuing physical perfection

There is so much more, more than ever meets the eye

For God looks through the surface

And He defines your worth by what is on the inside."

Or how is this for the prayer of a middle schooler:

"Let my eyes be fixed
On the hope that cannot fail
May my life be set
Where the Hammer meets the nail
Place my feet
Where the rubber meets the road
Shape my heart
To please Your eyes alone
That I may live my life
Where the chisel meets the stone

Chip away what tries to hide the truth
Until there is a remarkable

Resemblance of You"

"Face the Nation" was another clarifying tune for me. Wow. So many good ones.

And of course I have to mention a few specifics from Point of Grace:

"Shall we gather at the river of forgiveness

Come together at the waters of love

Flowing like a fountain from the mercy Giver

Shall we gather at the river?

We can wade into the middle where the healing waters flow

It only takes a little to heal a wounded soul

It will only bring us closer than we've ever been before

This is just what Jesus was praying for."

Or very memorable:

"What's He gonna say about me

When He weighs the works that
I have done
Against the words that I have
Failed to speak
What's He gonna say about me
When the chaff is sifted from the wheat
Will there be evidence that I believed

What's He gonna say about me"

Wow, I could go on and on. Phillips, Craig & Dean:

"You Don't Have the Right"

"Mercy Came Running"

"Crucified with Christ"

And a few years later, just as much gratitude for ZoeGirl and Plus One.

A word for any parents who may come across this post, please take it to heart that what your child is listening to right now may very well still shape their soul in 15 years. And that is a scary thought with all of the options they have in the secular world.

Thank you, Lord, for Truth and for hearts that respond to music. Thank you for Your servants who so faithfully make Truth catchy, not for their popularity, but so that Your bride may internalize Your love, refined by the repetition of songs that reveal who You are, led in deeper blamelessness to Your throne and to the wedding feast of the Lamb.