I don’t post very often, in fact, sometimes I wonder why I even have a blog. The majority of my posts are just recordings of lessons taught during our ABF hour (Adult Bible Fellowship, our version of Sunday School) at my church. I do post the occasional paper that I’ve written but besides that I rarely post what I’m thinking on any given day.

Today, I am going to try something different. Last night, when I got home from work, I was listening to Sure Shot by the O. C. Supertones, which caused me to really think about the lyrics of the song, which in turn, caused me evaluate how I’m living, how I’m thinking, and what drives both of the aspects of my life. So, what are the lyrics that would cause me to evaluate my life? Here they are:

I wanna do the right thing.

I wanna be the sure shot.

I wanna have my mind straight.

I wanna have my point got.

I wanna be a good man,

I wanna have my act down.

I wanna be the future

And I wanna be right now.

Sometimes I feel

Like I can change the world.

But I don’t know where to start.

I dig and come up empty,

Clutching an empty heart.

I wanna see a life change.

I wanna see a new man.

I wanna fight the good fight.

I wanna take the right stand.

I wanna be like Jesus.

I wanna pour my heart out.

I wanna pick my cross up.

I wanna hear the mob shout.

I’m wide awake

And thinking about the cross,

The Trinity apart.

Clutching an empty heart

I’ve removed the next section of the lyrics because they repeat what has been said already with the except of the following line which replaces “an empty heart” with “a sacred heart”

Clutching an sacred heart.

They are good lyrics. They say something important for the Christian looking to live out the practical implications of the Christian faith. They could easily be glossed over by the catchy tune the accompanies them. For those of you who are not familiar with the O. C. Supertones and what type of music they play, they would be considered as Christian Ska (A heavier style of music with the incorporation of horns). As a newer believer (I was born-again in 1995), the discovery of the O. C. Supertones, Audio Adrenaline, DC Talk, and Skillet provided for me an outlet musically since their music tended to be heavier than much of the fluff that was “Christian music.” This aspect was important for someone that used to have a steady diet of Death Metal, Thrash Metal, and generally everything Metal. The best part of the discovery of these bands was that the lyrics had substance. They were intelligent, thought-provoking, and surprisingly even biblical, especially the Supertones and Skillet.

To be honest, I don’t really listen to “Christian music” much because so much of it isn’t biblical, let alone Christian, which could be why I am droning on about a song on an album that came out in 1999. I want lyrics that mean something. Lyrics that praise God with the truth and reality of who He is, not driven by feelings. Lyrics that cause me to think deeply about God, hence the lines in the song about thinking about the cross and the Trinity.

As a side note, This song is on their 1999 album called “Chase the Sun” and it is probably my favorite album of all the Christian music that I listen to. “Grounded” would be my favorite song on that album and it is also the song that introduced me to the name of Greg Bahnsen. I was already aware of Francis Schaeffer, but when they sang that we had to learn from the shoguns, Bahnsen and Schaeffer, I had to find out who Bahnsen was. Thank you, O. C. Supertones for introducing me to Greg Bahnsen, who just happened to die the year I got saved.

So, what is the point of this? Good question. Tomorrow morning (12/18/22) I am finishing up a series on Creeds, Catechisms, and Confessions that was started by my friend, Jason, who recently passed away rather suddenly. I would have much rather sat under his teaching on this topic, but in a small effort to honor him by continuing to teach our class what he knew we needed to learn, I decided to finish the series. It has been very helpful to my soul and I hope to the class to cover a few of the early councils that attempted to clarify some of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith. Tomorrow concludes a two-week handling of some current statements that have been put forth to help guide Christians on some of the current issues that we are facing in the church and the world today.

Tomorrow’s statements are: The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel and The Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties. In regards to the content of these statements and what is going on in the world, the lyrics of Sure Shot ring loudly in my head and heart because “I wanna do the right thing, I wanna have my mind straight, I wanna have my point got, I wanna fight the good fight, I wanna take the right stand, and I wanna be like Jesus.”

I will end with this, I recently saw a statistic that only 4% of young Christians have a biblical worldview. Now, I fully recognize that there are many, many factors that go in to producing such statistics but 4% is an alarming statistic. It is my desire to do all I can to help believers develop a thoroughly biblical worldview so that the church can stop being influenced by secular ideologies and start being what they are called to be.