Why Don't We Talk About Saturday?,

Since it's Holy Week, I thought I'd talk about it real fast.

We all know what happened Good Friday.  Jesus was arrested.  He was taken into the Roman courts before Pontius Pilate, who sent Him back to the Jewish courts.  Then he was sent to Golgotha, the place of the skull, to be crucified (Matthew 26:47 - Matthew 27:26).

The Bible says that at noon, the skies got dark and the Earth started to shake.  The temple veil was torn from top to bottom to show that no mortal man had absolutely "nothing" to do it.  And as Jesus cried out "It is finished! (John 19:30), the people realized that He was no ordinary man.

He was taken down from the cross, prepared for burial, and placed in the tomb to be buried at a later time.

We all know what happened Easter Sunday.  He arose.  Escaped the tomb and showed himself to his friends, disciples, and rumored 500 others- not just believers, but also cynics- before he ascended into Heaven.  With his resurrection, He proved that He was none other than the son of God.

But what about Saturday?  Well, after some extensive reading, the only thing I could come up with is this:  Saturday was about preparing.  The day between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise.

As it says, Pilate pretty much told the Pharisees and high priests to seal his tomb until Sunday, since they didn't have time on that Friday/Saturday to properly dress him for burial (thanks, Sabbath!).  The only reasoning they sealed the tomb was because they were afraid that Jesus's disciples would steal his body in the night and essentially "fake" His resurrection.

While the people of Earth were mourning, it says this in Ephesians:  "When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people. (Ephesians 4:8)"  When He died, Satan was stripped of his captives and He rescued the righteous ones, from the beginning of time to that very moment.  He pretty much put death to death.  Dang, Jesus! 

But with this information, I want you to think of something:  do you have struggles in your life that you feel like aren't being answered or taken care of by God?  Do you feel ignored?  Like you've been living on a prayer (oh, we're halfway there...)?

Throughout studying the means of Holy Saturday, I realized something:  God could've resurrected Jesus as soon as He took His last breath.  He could've let Jesus not get crucified.  He could've.  But as you can see, He didn't.

Maybe what you're going through right now is your waiting period.  You feel at your lowest, like no one is coming the rescue.  Like you're stuck in your tomb.  But it's coming.  Your Friday has passed, your Saturday is here, and your Sunday is quickly approaching.

Saturday was a day between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise.  And if this is where you are in your walk now, I pray that you stand on this truth.  You're in the preparation process.  And before you know it, your time of celebration will be here.

Why Do We Put Christianity in a Box?,

This post was inspired by chapter 9 of Jesus > Religion:  Why He is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough by Jefferson Bethke. Definitely one of my recommended reads.

So I will 100% admit:  I love my music.  I could sit for hours and listen to music, and my CD collection doesn't prove anything different.  As of typing this post, I have 103 CDs and over a thousand songs on my iPod, ranging from acoustic to 50's doo-wop to Korean pop to even a hint of hood rap (Childish Gambino and Tupac, anyone?).  But as I'm looking through my music and all the genres I listen to, I noticed something pretty peculiar:  Christian music is the only genre categorized by religion.  There's no Atheist, Buddhist, Pagan, Muslim genres of music... only Christian.

Now, I have nothing against it at all.  I completely understand the reasoning.  But the thing I became bothered with as I continued to ponder it is the fact that everything that has to do with Jesus or has the word "Hallelujah" in the song is automatically placed in a "Christian" box.  Art, music, movies, stories... as soon as religion comes into play, it's immediately put in this box, set to never be seen by those who really need to see it.

But why?  Why is Christian art placed in this box without anyone giving it a chance?  The only things I could think of are these three things, other than the mention of Jesus:  monotony, easy finishes, and a sense of not even caring to even try to push the envelope anymore.

Before I explain, I just want to point out that we don't do this with anything else except art.  Here's an example:  let's just say you and I are out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.  The reviews of the place are five-star ratings, so this place must be awesome.  But before we order, I decide to ask the waiter:  "Excuse me, is the chef in the kitchen Christian?  Because if he's not, I definitely can't eat here and need to go somewhere with a Christian chef immediately."  I think my waiter would find me extremely nuts if I asked something as crazy as that.  We judge people in certain professions based on their field of expertise, not their faith.  So why are we doing this with our artists?

When it comes to Christian art, it all seems the same to me.  I feel like I could probably tell you the plot of a few Christian films with one sentence:  a Christian male tries to prove a non-Christian wrong or tries to improve his own life by discovering Jesus and because of this, their significant others break up with them and/or get pregnant and someone else dies.  I'm not saying these films aren't good, because they have a great purpose of introducing new Christians to Jesus and even teaching new things to old and new Christ-followers alike.  I will confess, if it weren't for the film "To Save a Life", I wouldn't be here worshipping Jesus like I do each and every day.  I just think these films could use a little more thought and more creativity, rather than taking a plot that has been used a hundred times and placing it back on the big screen with different actors and settings.  

Christian fiction books mostly follow the same format as movies.  There's a little bit of a difference, but at the end of the day, they all pretty much have the same premise.  Same concept goes with music.  Some of these newer musicians are getting real lazy with their songwriting (if you can take your significant other's or crush's name and replace it with God's, there's a bit of a problem there).

So, Carly, I guess that means you live in the world and hate everything Christian.  Actually, no.  I will admit, I love secular music.  Some of my favorite artists are strictly secular, and that's completely okay.  The problem with secular music arises when what is being produced is not morally good or glorifying good things.  Think about it:  Genesis 1 says that God created everything.  Trees, music, art, that pizza you're totally thinking about baking sometime this week.  God created it.  And He said it was good.  But these good things God has made become bad things when we abuse them and use these forms of worship to glorify ourselves and our worldly desires.

Two artists I really respect in this tough music industry are Lecrae and TobyMac.  When the hip-hop community is starting to get a bad name, from shootings to gang fights and general violence, Lecrae is the one who actually wants to talk to media, rather than avoiding it.  Answering their questions.  Showing them that the light of Jesus is still in this group of people.  Lecrae is one of the few Christian artists that isn't afraid to come out of the woodwork when times get tough and still preaches the Gospel to those who will listen.  

On the other hand, TobyMac released an album last year that blew up the Billboard Hot 200, which is a predominantly secular chart.  For weeks, Toby was on the top of the charts.  And then he won a few major awards at various awards shows.  He wasn't TobyMac, the Christian artist, at that time.  He was just TobyMac, the artist that created award winning and record breaking music.

Shouldn't that be what all artists strive for?  Not to be the best Christian artist, but the best artist of all by showing glory to God while displaying your craft and positively impacting others with your message?

As Christian artists, we should be setting the bar for good art and culture, not hiding ourselves in a box and copying others' art and calling it "Christian".  Your art reflects who God is.  When you're copying others and not putting in your best efforts, you are lying about who God is.  You are showing a false image of Him.

And for those of you who are saying right now that you can't make art, you really can.  Art isn't just painting pretty pictures, filming things with a video camera, and singing into a microphone.  Do you cook?  Sew?  Write stories?  Rebuild cars?  Whatever you're passionate about, do it for the glory of God.  Worship Him with your passions.  Your passions become God's art.

Listening to your worship playlist isn't worship; it's just an aid for your worship time.  When I'm doing things I'm passionate about and creating good things, I find that I'm as connected to Jesus as I am in my prayer time.  Why?  Because I'm using my gifts that God has blessed me with and am using them to glorify Him and His kingdom.

As this new week is about to begin, I challenge you to glorify God with your passions.  And whenever you are doubting your potential, remember that God created you in His image.  And out of everything He made in Genesis 1, you are the only thing made in His image.  And since He was a creator, you are too.