Sortin' Through Filth

1 more school day till Spring Break.

It isn't really going to be a break. Since I have a terrible memory, I made a Spring Break to-do list on Notepad, and that list has a few items that will keep me busy during my break. From sermon prep to applications, the future seems exciting. (Never a dull moment with Christ). Looks like next week might go from Spring Break to Spring Busy.

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I was going through my old mp3s on my, now vintage, Dell Inspiron laptop. For some strange reason, I felt the need to backup my songs on the new HD that Jason got me. As I was transferring the songs, I started to play a bunch of my old favorites. I forgot how sweet these songs sounded! Every song I sang was so catchy the tunes were just amazing. I couldn't believe how much I still remembered after all these years. Every lyric rolled smoothly off my tongue as if it were high school all over again.

It was then that I realized exactly what I was singing.

In high school, you never really feel like you need to filter through the lyrics of songs. All you care about is how the song makes you feel (or how much it reminds you of the girl you like). Now, if you're wondering, I wasn't cussin' up a storm or anything. Give me a break... No, what made me step back wasn't the vulgarity of the lyrics, it was the idolatry.

Okay sure, there are certain songs from my past that I definitely wouldn't play driving in the car with my mom riding shotgun. I'm not talking about those songs. The songs that I was singing didn't have swear words or dirty language, but each one had the same recurring message regardless of the genre: relational idolatry.

I'm amazed at how passionately artists can sing about a single person, as if life without them would mean the Apocalypse. It's almost ridiculous. But this was the theme of every song I listened to, either explicitly or implicitly.

It reminded you of the days of high school and being so depressed because your crush didn't even look at you in 3rd period Spanish. And boy did that break your heart. Your world would come crashing down because a girl wouldn't give you the time of day.

You see, as foolish as that was, that was the extent of MY suffering in high school. It's funny how situations and occurrences like that would dictate my emotions for the day, week, or even the rest of the year. I was such a slave to that way of thinking that it would, in turn, affect my entire high school career. I'd worry about birthday parties, dances, and dates so much that it would take over your my mind. I just didn't want to be alone...

This corrupted way of thinking obviously leads to irrational acting. For me, this meant sitting in my on the brink of shedding tears over a failure to impress the "woman that I loved" with a corny joke. I recall even driving my car for miles down the freeway thinking about how great of a pair we would be, even though she didn't like me back. Of course, during this whole ordeal, I'd be singing with my buddies John Mayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers who seemed to be the only people who could understand my suffering--go figure. However, the songs I sang didn't bring the healing to my heart that they promised. If anything, they only brought on deeper sorrow and anguish upon my unregenerate self.

High schoolers are emotional. Their world crumbles when a college denies their application, even more so with "relational Fails." They have enough teenage pathos to make them cry over small things like spilled milk; they don't need manipulative songs to corrupt them even more.

Look, it's easy to spot the songs about sex and drugs, that's not difficult. But I think that our young people are more susceptible to the songs with sweet melodic tones and deceivingly subtle lyrics. (I know that I WAS). This causes young people to idolize and elevate relationships to a dangerous level that may even damn their souls.

Man.. if teenage pop-singers who have no life experience can write a song about "true love," then I think we've lowered, skewed, and corrupted the biblical parameters of love. No longer does it reflect the nature of God, but it is the idolizing of relationships that masquerades as love.

So, how can you spot a song straight from the devil himself? Well, all you have to do is see if the song cultivates fleshly fruits in a person. If the song can get a 13-year-old to contemplate suicide over a minuscule relationship, then congratulations, you have successfully spotted a manipulative masterpiece straight from the father of lies.

If these young people continue to dwell in this plague, they will develop a sinful lifestyle.

They will become people who devote their efforts to a person instead of pursuing holiness. They will become people who see satisfaction with a sinner than with the Savior. They will become people who have sporadic emotions based on relational circumstances instead of having emotions based on the steadfastness of Grace. And finally, they will become people who are more afraid of loneliness than they are of a Holy God.

Our young people are afflicted by so many things. The world is targeting them because they are so spiritually weak. If we do not ground them with Divine truth, they will easily walk upon the crooked path. Discernment needs to be a part of the young person's vocabulary, so that they can filter through even the most subtle song lyric.

People, don't be fooled by the "cute" songs, because it is the cute ones that are directly from Satan. And it is the cute ones that could send you on a pathway to hell.

Look to the Savior. He will give you more joy than than any high school crush could ever give.

You see...
God is all you need, because God is all there is. Embrace His love, and He will embrace you forever.

-Micah