Pageviews past week

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Done-broke people in a flat-busted world

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9

There's something about country music that keeps our toes a-tappin' to tales of lives a-broken. The song titles themselves tell the stories ...

You Done Tore Out My Heart And Stomped That Sucker Flat
She's Actin' Single And I'm Drinkin' Doubles
I Don't Know Whether to Kill Myself or Go Bowling
If the Phone Don't Ring, You'll Know It's Me
Don't Come Home A-drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)
She Got the Gold Mine and I Got the Shaft
You Can Lock Me Up in Jail and Throw Away the Key, But You Can't Keep My Face From Breaking Out
I'm the Only Hell Mama Ever Raised
Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart
Billy Broke My Heart At Walgreens and I Cried All the Way to Sears

We all git it, don't we?  It's a flat-bused world full of done-broke people.  And they're confessin' even as they're a-singin'.

When people look for Jesus, they see us.  While they usually find light and hope, they sometimes see the kind of self-righteousness, legalism and hypocrisy that drew the sharpest rebukes from Jesus.  Count on Nashville to sing about that, too!.

Would Jesus Wear A Rolex (On His Television Show)
Jesus Loves Me But He Can't Stand You

When people look to us for light but find darkness, they turn away.  This just cannot be. John writes, "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth (1 John 1:6)."  Translation: If we're a-preachin' the truth, we can't be livin' a lie.

Confessin' trumps denyin' at the poker table of life.  And repentin' is even better yet.

[Click here to see the daily reading in 1 John 1:5 - 2:6.]

1 comment:

Chuck said...

Good one Paul...I love country music, so thanks for the chuckle while relating real life to the daily reading.