explicit
the other day as i was updating my ipod, i was going through and choosing which songs to put in which playlists and i noticed something rather ridiculous…in my itunes, the song ‘Here I am to Worship’ has the word ‘explicit’ next to it in red letters! my first reaction was…”HA! that’s funny!”. but after i thought about it, it occurred to me that it’s not so silly. here’s why:
i think we can all agree that the word ‘explicit’ initially brings to mind negative connotations. when i hear it associated with a movie or a music video or a song, you can bet i’m going to steer clear. and yet the prominent meaning of the word is not negative at all. it means: specific, accurate, clear, obvious, fully and clearly expressed. hmmm, how many of us live ‘explicit’ lives for Jesus?
so if i were to think of the word ‘explicit’ being associated with the song ‘here i am to worship’, i would think: how can i live a life of explicit worship to the Lord? what can i do to show, clearly and obviously, whose i am?
brian and i were in a restaurant on one of our recent trips and we were unfortunately seated next to a table full of very loud young men. these guys were not just amiable, good-natured, boisterous loud. they were raunchy, rude, cussing loud. out of all the (empty) tables in the entire place, we were seated there, next to them. once the profanity began, brian wanted to be reseated elsewhere, but i thought, since they were there before us, perhaps they’d finish soon. and being in an unfamiliar city, quite frankly, i wasn’t sure that they (the guys at the table) wouldn’t be offended by our moving and perhaps make an issue of it…you never know what people are capable of…and i was more concerned with our safety than what i was going to have to hear. (brian was kind enough to give in to my request…he wanted to handle it differently:) ) after several long minutes of putting up with the blatant disregard for everyone else in the restaurant, brian and i started talking a little louder. we were talking about church stuff, family stuff, music stuff…. and we started wondering what it would be like to start blatantly worshipping! what kind of a reaction do you think we’d have gotten had we really given those guys a run for their money in the commotion department! singing at the top of our lungs, worshipping our Savior, calling out the in the name of the LORD!! they didn’t seem to mind that we were offended by their speech, would they have been equally offended by ours? could we have been as explicit in our worship as they were in their profanity?
food for thought.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:16 am
hahaha cool… Jesus Freak huh.. what did you eat! lol
February 24th, 2010 at 8:50 am
That was soo awesome, why should we always hush or just look the other way when ppl offend our beliefs? Adn i too have wonder how ppl would react to me or my friends totally just worhipping in a place that is not church? would we offend anyone? Thank you Crystal as always u are a blessing!
February 24th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Love it Crystal. It’s time for me to be a little bit more explicit in my worship ~ LoL. That will freak people out for sure! Blessings Always!
February 25th, 2010 at 11:11 am
you realize the things you learn so unexpectedly everyday!God bless you greatly!!!!
March 1st, 2010 at 10:56 am
Wow that is funny I am glad that ya`ll handled the situation modestly. I would have chosen a different route though, yea people are crazy but for them to be that loud;I would have to tell them to please tone it down a notch, of course I would have to follow the leading of the Holy spirit before I ever do anything.
March 8th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Hi Crystal! As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across the word explicit in Luke 11:46 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, calling them Frauds. Luke 11:45 “One of the religion scholars spoke up: “Teacher, do you realize that in saying these things you’re insulting us?” (46) He said, “Yes and I can be even more explicit. You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You load people down with rules and regulations, nearly breaking thier backs, but never lift even a finger to help.” The Message
I just found it so interesting that I came across that word today!
Great Blog, thanks:)
March 9th, 2010 at 11:21 am
you should have done it that would have been great! i know what you mean it is the worst when your kids are with you. kinda hard to not get all caught up in the flesh.
March 14th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Hi Crystal! I was listening to “I Still Believe”and thought… Where is Crystal Lewis, so I googled you and saw ur webstie… I’ve been a fan since Gold (I was 13 yrs old), and I didn’t know you had so much music… and I can’t wait to hear it all! I wish you continued success, blessings, love & continue to pull others to His love as you have for me…
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Crystal, I love this blog as I love a lot of your blogs. This message really says it. We need to be reverent of our loving God and not get wayed down in the flesh. What you did, was exactly the right thing by not giving into them. That is what they want people to do. So, God bless you for teaching your kids the right thing to do.