RSS

Tag Archives: Charlie Peacock

“Slippery Pearls” by Charlie Peacock

09 Nov

“Slippery Pearls” by Charlie Peacock (with a little Ashley Cleveland on BGV)

What you hold back from the minute
The minute will lack
If you don’t claim it from the hour
Then the hour takes it back
All our wants will pass quickly
What remains is our need
And mama don’t make no medicine
That’ll cure that disease

Nothing is certain here in this world
You drop all your treasures
Just like slippery pearls
Oh, it’s hard to find a handle
On the things that you see
‘Cause they slide right through your fingers
Just like slippery pearls

What you don’t lock up inside your heart
The world will consume
Might slip right down the throat of greed
Or through the floorboards in your room
There’s two thieves namеd pain and pleasure
Neithеr one is true
You ransom your flesh to save your bones
Then they come and take those too

Nothing is certain here in this world
You drop all your treasures
Just like slippery pearls
Oh, it’s hard to find a handle
On the things that you see
‘Cause they slide right through your fingers
Just like slippery pearls

They don’t make a map, no, to guide you
Through the badlands of the soul
You could lose yourself to blind conceit
Or to the hunger for control
Try to guard it all from the elements
And still gonna fall apart
‘Cause the world outside don’t pose no threat
Like the darkness in our hearts
Hey…

Nothing is certain here in this world
You drop all your treasures
Just like slippery pearls
Oh, it’s hard to find a handle
On the things that you see
‘Cause they slide right through your fingers
Just like slippery pearls

Dear God, I was trying to find a scripture to move me this morning, and nothing was really coming to mind. Frankly, I’ve been praying so much about some certain things in my life that I’m almost a little burned out on praying (is that okay to say?). My solution was to go to my Christian playlist on my phone, hit shuffle and see what came up first. This was it. I think this song is 30 years old. I remember when the album came out in 1995 and I lived in Dallas for a year. I’ve listened to every song on the Everything that’s on my Mind album by Charlie Peacock several times, including this one, but I don’t think I ever paid attention to the lyrics on this one before. I spent a little time with them, and I found conviction.

Waste. That’s what I got. I am guilty of wasting a lot of minutes. And those minutes turn into hours. and by the end of the month, the hours probably turn into days. I probably wasted days every month and as much as a month a year. So that’s the first verse. And I never appreciated the poetry of that verse. It’s really great:

What you hold back from the minute
The minute will lack
If you don’t claim it from the hour
Then the hour takes it back
All our wants will pass quickly
What remains is our need

Then the second verse talks about not treasuring what’s important.

What you don’t lock up inside your heart
The world will consume
Might slip right down the throat of greed
Or through the floorboards in your room
There’s two thieves namеd pain and pleasure
Neithеr one is true
You ransom your flesh to save your bones
Then they come and take those too

I don’t feel as guilty on this one. I think my head is in pretty much the right place when it comes to what I treasure, what I guard, and what I disregard. But again, the poetry of this song is really strong. I like it.

They don’t make a map, no, to guide you
Through the badlands of the soul
You could lose yourself to blind conceit
Or to the hunger for control
Try to guard it all from the elements
And still gonna fall apart
‘Cause the world outside don’t pose no threat
Like the darkness in our hearts

Was it the apple that tempted Adam and Eve, or the darkness in their heart that they didn’t completely trust you? They had some amount of hunger for control. We all do. It’s hard to be helpless. I have a need for certainty, and the faith you want me to put in you can seem contrary to that need because sometimes your plan is neither obvious to me or has things play out the way I selfishly want them to.

Nothing is certain here in this world
You drop all your treasures
Just like slippery pearls
Oh, it’s hard to find a handle
On the things that you see
‘Cause they slide right through your fingers
Just like slippery pearls

I didn’t plan this, but the first line of the chorus echoes that last paragraph: “Nothing is certain here in this world.” I look for a handle so I can control (see verse 3: “Or to the hunger for control“) what is going on around me. But sometimes, even like now, I’m reduced to asking you to simply show me the next step I am to take. I don’t know where the narrow path leads, and it may very well lead down to a dark valley. Mine is not to know the destination. Mine is to know the path you have for me to take regardless of what it costs me.

Father, I’m involved in a challenging situation right now, but my prayers yesterday were for everyone’s best. I want the best for every person involved. I don’t want to take the easiest path for me. I want to be your blessing to others. I want to be your presence. I want to take every action that you want me to take. And I want to not act when you are calling me to simply be still. I want to be exactly who you need me to be today. Help me to be that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 9, 2025 in Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Revelation 14:14-20

26 Nov

14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

15 Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested.

17 After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar. He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.

Revelation 14:14-20

Dear God, the harvest is the end of the world. That’s actually the name of a song by Charlie Peacock that I just thought of as I started to write this: “The Harvest is the End of the World.”

This song doesn’t necessarily line up with this specific passage, but it includes angels with their sickles so it’s at least adjacent to this passage. My wife and I gravitated to this song because it came out a year after our miscarriage and right when our son was born. As we thought about the daughter we lost and the son we were gaining, this part of the song really struck us:

I see angels in the distance
In the distance, I see angels
And their shadows fall
Like crosses on the fields
Some are swinging low the sickles
Some are binding up the sheaves
Some are sifting out the harvest yield

Rachel, run to join the angels
In the harvest in the distance
Rising from your bed as from a dream
In the feint and splintered line
Where the wheat field meets the sky
You might find your sorrow made complete

To quote another song, “Lord, I don’t know where all this is going or how it all turns out. Lead me to peace that passes understanding. A peace beyond all doubt.” I have concerns. I have sorrows. I have things that burden me. Help me to lean on you as part of this. Help me to trust you when it seems like things are going in ways I do not like. Help me to turn loose of my idols and look to you as my only source of peace and comfort. Help me to repent when I need to repent, serve when I need to serve, and listen when I need to listen. Help me to worship you well throughout my entire being. Then I will let the end of the world happen as you have ordained it and go through whatever you’ve decided I must go through.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 26, 2024 in Hymns and Songs, Revelation

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

1 John 1:5-10 / “In the Light” by dc Talk

20 Jul

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

Dear God, I came across this passage this morning, and it made me think of the song by dc Talk (written by Charlie Peacock), “In the Light.” Humility before you. Introspection before you. Repenting before you. Acknowledging exactly who I am before you. All of it can be very cathartic. Yes, I am sinful. Yes, I fall and fail. Yes, I do things that don’t hurt you as much as you get frustrated because they hurt me or those I love around me. The more I am in your light the more I am free.

I was texting with a friend yesterday who is reading through my series of these prayer journals I did on fathers of the Bible. One of his comments to me is that I am kind of hard on myself. I replied that when I start praying before you and bringing myself into relationship with you then some of this stuff starts pouring out. At the same time, I am experiencing your forgiveness as I put it into the light, and it is actually quite, well, as I said before, cathartic.

Some of the lines of this song I love:

I keep trying to find a light on my own apart from you — What foolishness!

What’s going on inside of me? I despise my own behavior! — Echoes of Paul in Romans 7:15-20.

Every attempt on my behalf has failed to bring this sickness under control — Only you, Jesus. Only you.

Father, I have the opportunity today to live in the light. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. I have experienced evil this week. I have done evil this week. I am sorry. Help me to be totally in your light today and to then carry that light to others.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 20, 2024 in 1 John, Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , ,

“I Have Been There” by Mark Schultz

20 Aug

“I Have Been There” by Mark Schultz

In a room without a view, a new mother smiles and holds
The tiny fingers of her brand new baby girl.
Her husband takes her by the hand, so unsure about the future
Have no money can they make it in this world?
And they pray, Lord all we have to give is love
Then they heard a gentle voice like an echo from above,

I have been there. I know what fear is all about.
Yes, I have been there and I’m standing with you now.
I have been there
And I came to build the bridge oh so this road could lead you home.
Oh I have been there.

He’s been a pastor twenty years
But tonight he sits alone and broken hearted in the corner of the church
He tried to change a fallen world
With his words and with his wisdom but it seems like it is only getting worse
And he cries, Oh Lord I just don’t understand
Then he felt the hand of grace, and he heard a voice that said

I have been there, I know what pain is all about
Yes I have been there, and I’m standing with you now
I have been there, and I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead you home
Oh I have been there.

An older man up on a hill
Holding flowers but he can’t hold back the tears.
Oh he has come to say goodbye.
He thinks about the life she lived,
Thinks about how hard it’s been to live without her
Sixty years right by his side
And he cries, oh Lord I loved her till the end
And he heard a gentle voice say you’ll see her once again

I have been there
I know what sorrow’s all about
Yes I have been there and I’m standing with you now
I have been there, and I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead her home, the road could lead her home

Oh I have been there, You know I overcame the cross, yes I have been there
So her life would not be lost
Oh I have been there, and I came to build
A bridge so this road could lead you home
The road could lead you home

Oh I have been there
Yes I have been there

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Mark Mitchell Schultz

Dear God, I haven’t done two of these prayer journals in one day in a long time, but today seemed like a good day.

In 2005, I was unemployed for about six months. One of the things I did back then was make a CD of songs that comforted me. Several years later, since CDs are much of a thing anymore, I made a playlist with those songs and saved them to my iTunes. I came across that playlist today. Coincidence? Maybe not. It feels like something the Holy Spirit led me to. The songs have been great and brought back some memories. Here’s a list of the songs, in order:

All of these songs are a comfort to me. They are a touchstone to a time when I was very sad, scared, down, and even a little depressed. I’m grateful for this list.

With all of that said, “I Have Been There” by Mark Schultz is the one that brought tears to my eyes. There is nothing I can experience you haven’t experienced. I wish I could find it, but there was something fictional I heard someone read about 35 years ago that still sticks in my brain. I’m sure the person who wrote it would be flattered that it made that much of an impression on someone. In this case, it was people lining up to say what they thought you should have to experience, as God, to understand us better. These are me paraphrasing some of the things. It’s been a long time, and I only heard it once, but it was something to the effect of:

  • One person said that God should have to be poor so he can understand what it’s like to struggle without anything.
  • One person said that God should have to have to endure scandal in his family so he would understand what it’s like to be gossiped about and rejected.
  • One person said he should have to know what it’s like to be rejected for his nationality and be a foreigner.
  • One person said that God should have to lose his son and watch him die a terrible death.

The list went on and on, ultimately ending with that God should have to die to know what it’s like to fear death. Then, one by one, the people walked away because they realized you did all these things through Jesus.

So as I sit here now, feeling rejected by some, there is nothing I can experience you haven’t experienced. Like the song from Mark Schultz says, “[You] have been there.” As I stopped and listened to this song closely, playing it back a second time, I teared up. I felt you comforting me, Holy Spirit. You have been there. You know what I’m going through right now, and you have been there.

Father, I’m sorry for the times I have been a source for your sorrow. I am sorry I have caused you to be there. Thank you for comforting me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being a God who left no stone unturned so that you might know everything about me, including what it’s like to be me.

I gratefully pray all of this as your child,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 20, 2023 in Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mark 9:2-10

01 Oct

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

Mark 9:2-10

Dear God, verse 2 is the verse of the day from Oswald Chambers’s My Utmost for His Highest. I thought the first few words of his thoughts were a good place to start with this passage:

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley.

The part of you not wanting us to stay there. I guess this is why I’ve always had an issue with monks. It feels like they’ve made an intentional choice to avoid the valley as much as possible. I might be wrong and this might be unfair. Perhaps their valley is being there to greet those who come to their monasteries to find a mountain of their own. But I suppose it seems like a…I almost said selfish, but it’s not selfish because they deny themselves a lot. I guess I’ll say it seems like a decision that does not accomplish as much in the world as you might otherwise through their lives. But again, I don’t understand it and I could be totally wrong about this. I guess I’m just acknowledging where my judgment of monks comes from and thinking through the idea that there is likely more to it than I understand because I haven’t take the time to learn more about it.

I was in our church group last week, and the women had just come back from an ACTS retreat the weekend before. One of them mentioned not wanting to lose the high of the experience of being there with you. It reminded me of a song by Charlie Peacock called “Monkeys at the Zoo.”

It’s about coming back from a mountaintop experience: “Will it be different now or the same? Will I have learned anything? Or was it just a way to spend a day or two set aside for thinking thoughts about you? If that’s all it was, I had a good time…”

I’ve been to several mountaintop experiences and I’ve had that experience of coming back motivated but then not doing the little things to discipline myself to carry you into the valley. I expect the work that others did to provide my mountaintop experience will be enough to sustain me. But that’s like going to a tennis camp, working with a coach to improve my game, and then returning home and not doing anything to sustain my level of tennis. But then when someone asks me to play on the weekend I’m terrible. Why? Because I didn’t put in the work on my own.

It was April 2000 when I returned from a mountaintop experience at Laity Lodge. You laid it on my heart to start taking scripture and journaling to you about it. Praying to you about it. Ironically, I started by taking the My Utmost for His Highest verse of the day and praying over it without looking at his commentary. That was over 22 years go. Now I’ve done thousands and thousands of these prayers through journaling. In the aggregate, I can certainly see that it has changed my life.

Father, help me to keep disciplining myself to spend this quality time with you. I was talking to someone yesterday about how much time my wife and I spend talking to each other. We spend over an hour every day catching up and talking. We also pray together nearly every day. Those are great things and they make all of the difference in the world in our relationship. I need to do the same with you. Not that I need to spend an hour praying every day (although it probably wouldn’t hurt), but I certainly need to spend an hour every day exposing myself to you in some way. Maybe not all at once, but cumulatively. Praying. Listening to Christian music. Listening to Christian podcasts or the Bible in a Year podcast. I need to make sure my mind is on the things of you every day. That’s the best way for me to hear your Holy Spirit talk to me. That’s the best way to feel you presence and follow the nudging of my heart. That’s the way to expose the soil of my heart to the seeds you might want to be planting that day. Really, God. Thank you for everything. I’m here to meet with you. Won’t you meet with me?

In Jesus’s name and through the grace you extend to me through his life, death and resurrection and I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on October 1, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Mark, My Utmost for His Highest Scripture of the Day

 

Tags: , , , ,

1 John 1:5-7

20 Jul

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:5-7

Dear God, of course, I immediately thought of the dc Talk cover of the Charlie Peacock song “In the Light” when I read this. Since I just looked at the dc Talk version a couple of days ago, here’s a link to the Charlie Peacock version.

In terms of this passage, verse six is important:

If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.

The important thing here is that one of the people we are lying to is ourself. I think one of the biggest problems in the church today is that we have no idea how to walk in the light. We think believing there is a God and believing there is a Jesus and everything the New Testament says about him means we walk in the light. But as I saw Stuart Hall day last week in his interview with Andy Stanley, we need to worship the God of our theology and not our theology.

Father, help me to legitimately walk in your light today. That means spending time with you in prayer, listening for your voice, worshipping you with all my souls, mind, and strength, and loving my neighbor as myself. It means forgiveness. It means generosity. I love you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 20, 2020 in 1 John

 

Tags: , ,

“No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock — No strength like utter weakness, no insult like the truth

07 Aug

“No Insult Like The Truth” By Charlie Peacock

I’ve run my ship aground
on the rocks of the soul
There’s no lie like independence
there’s no demon like control
I’ve fanned the burning embers
til my house was on fire
There’s no parody like power
There’s no fever like desire
I’ve drained the wine of darkness
to the dregs of deceit
There’s no drug as strong as pride
There’s no blindness like conceit
I’ve railed against the mountain
With a pickaxe and a file
There’s no minefield like presumption
There’s no death wish like denial

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

I’ve adjusted my prescription
til I couldn’t trust my vision
there’s no killer like convenience
there’s no sickness like omission
I’ve amended resolutions and resisted explanation
There’s no trap door like emotion
There’s no pit like reputation

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion
There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

This is part of a series dissecting the song “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock. In the series, I am taking two of the statements he makes and exploring the depth of meaning behind them and what I can learn about myself in the process

—

Dear God, so this is the culmination of this little series. I intentionally saved these two for last since they are the punch line of the chorus.

There’s no strength like utter weakness

When I think about the people I admire the least I would have to say that it is those who have the most bravado. If I’m around someone who needs to show me how strong they are, it is a complete turnoff, and they really don’t have anything to offer me.

One of the worst sermons I’ve ever heard was on Father’s Day several years ago. I was in a particularly bad spot as a father at that time, and I decided to visit a church I don’t normally attend but had been growing quite a bit. The pastor decided to approach Father’s Day by talking about all of the things he did well as a father and how great his kids turned out. I was devastated. I felt condemned and like a failure. It was terrible. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one because a member there told me he apologized the following week.

Portraying weakness is a strength, but what about genuinely recognizing the reality of my own weakness and living out of that. It’s a biblical cliche to say when I’m weak you are strong, but it’s true. Why does power corrupt? Because the person with power starts to make an idol out of themselves and the power they have instead of submitting themselves completely to you.

One last thing on this. The most powerful testimonies I have ever heard have been from those who talk about either a failure/weakness from their past, or a current failure/weakness. Vulnerability is where we all meet. There is no condemnation in vulnerability. If only I could truly learn that lesson.

There’s no insult like the truth

Hearing truth from someone else is important. Not that we need to seek out “insults,” but we have to put ourselves in situations where we are known by others so that they can speak truth to us about ourselves. This goes back into the vulnerability thing. If I build a wall around myself and create a facade of strength, then no one will know me and be able to speak truth to me. You will lose your ability to use others in my life to “sharpen” me.

Father, help me to embrace my own weakness and the truths about how I still fail you. Help me to leave myself vulnerable to those around me so that you can use my life as a comfort or inspiration for them. Love through me and help me to feel your love and acceptance.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 7, 2019 in “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock, Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , ,

“No Insult Like The Truth” by Charlie Peacock — No gunshot like conviction, no conscience bulletproof

06 Aug

“No Insult Like The Truth” By Charlie Peacock

I’ve run my ship aground
on the rocks of the soul
There’s no lie like independence
there’s no demon like control
I’ve fanned the burning embers
til my house was on fire
There’s no parody like power
There’s no fever like desire
I’ve drained the wine of darkness
to the dregs of deceit
There’s no drug as strong as pride
There’s no blindness like conceit
I’ve railed against the mountain
With a pickaxe and a file
There’s no minefield like presumption
There’s no death wish like denial

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

I’ve adjusted my prescription
til I couldn’t trust my vision
there’s no killer like convenience
there’s no sickness like omission
I’ve amended resolutions and resisted explanation
There’s no trap door like emotion
There’s no pit like reputation

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion
There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

This is part of a series dissecting the song “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock. In the series, I am taking two of the statements he makes and exploring the depth of meaning behind them and what I can learn about myself in the process

—

Dear God, I think I’m going to combine these two since they seem to go together. Conviction and the conscience. They obviously go together.

I guess the first thing I would point out is that there is a difference between feeling guilty and feeling convicted. At the most basic level, just because I don’t feel guilty about something doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit isn’t trying to convict me of it. For example, I might feel just fine about rejecting an enemy or someone who has been mean to me, but the Holy Spirit might still convict me that there is something I need to do on my end.

And conviction can come in different forms. It can relate to a behavior or attitude that needs changed. It can also be that nudging I need to be part of a solution for a problem I see around me. The trick is to make sure I am continuously preparing my heart to be reached by the Holy Spirit. To go back to some stuff I have written earlier about the parable of the sower, am I doing my part to ensure that there is good soil for you to work with.

Father, convict me today of the things I need to see and to which I need to respond. Love through me. Work through me. And then search me and give me the humility to repent of the sins that are permeating my life. Help me to turn loose of the world and be the man you need me to be. The man I want to be. And do it all for your glory. Help me to decrease and have you increase through me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 6, 2019 in “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock, Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , ,

“No Insult Like The Truth” by Charlie Peacock — No cancer like ambition, no cure like crucifixion

05 Aug

“No Insult Like The Truth” By Charlie Peacock

I’ve run my ship aground
on the rocks of the soul
There’s no lie like independence
there’s no demon like control
I’ve fanned the burning embers
til my house was on fire
There’s no parody like power
There’s no fever like desire
I’ve drained the wine of darkness
to the dregs of deceit
There’s no drug as strong as pride
There’s no blindness like conceit
I’ve railed against the mountain
With a pickaxe and a file
There’s no minefield like presumption
There’s no death wish like denial

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

I’ve adjusted my prescription
til I couldn’t trust my vision
there’s no killer like convenience
there’s no sickness like omission
I’ve amended resolutions and resisted explanation
There’s no trap door like emotion
There’s no pit like reputation

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion
There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

This is part of a series dissecting the song “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock. In the series, I am taking two of the statements he makes and exploring the depth of meaning behind them and what I can learn about myself in the process

—

Dear God, so I’m up to the bridge of the song. I notice he says it twice. “There’s no cancer like ambition. There’s no cure like crucifixion. There’s no cancer like ambition. There’s no cure like crucifixion.”

There’s no cancer like ambition

So what does cancer do? It grows until it takes what is alive and kills it, replacing it with itself. It’s absolute killer if not treated and removed. If not cured. Is Charlie right to hold ambition out as an exceptional vice above the others? Is ambition worse than independence, control, power, desire, pride, conceit, presumption, denial, convenience, omission, emotion, or reputation?

The thing that ambition can do that is dangerous is it will ultimately lead me to replace you with me. Even if I am ambitious for your and your kingdom, the danger is that I will start doing it for myself and my glory instead of your glory. My own wisdom will start to take hold. And I suppose I could say that my ambition will lead to all of the things that have come before it in the song. Ambition leads to independence, control, power, desire, pride, conceit, presumption, denial, convenience, omission, emotion, or reputation. Yes, I don’t know that I can say this definitively, but an argument can certainly be made that ambition is like a cancer in my soul.

There’s no cure like crucifixion

The know that my sin creates cannot be untied. Sometimes the damage done in relationships by hurting others cannot be undone through talking and reason. It requires sacrifice and humility. In terms of my relationship with you and the healing of my soul, the only thing there is to do is ask your forgiveness and that the sacrifice that Jesus made be applied to me as well. I must die to myself. I must put myself up there on the cross with Jesus, crucified, buried with him in baptism, and walk in newness of life. There’s no cure like Jesus’s crucifixion, but my own death to self is part of that as well.

Father, help me to sink into you. This is my first day back at work after a nice vacation. Help me to walk in your light and your power. Help me to walk humbly with you. Help me to hear your voice in the noice and in the still, quiet moments. Help me to carry you with me to others. Help me to bring glory to your name.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 5, 2019 in “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock, Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , ,

“No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock — No trapdoor like emotion, no pit like reputation

04 Aug

“No Insult Like The Truth” By Charlie Peacock

I’ve run my ship aground
on the rocks of the soul
There’s no lie like independence
there’s no demon like control
I’ve fanned the burning embers
til my house was on fire
There’s no parody like power
There’s no fever like desire
I’ve drained the wine of darkness
to the dregs of deceit
There’s no drug as strong as pride
There’s no blindness like conceit
I’ve railed against the mountain
With a pickaxe and a file
There’s no minefield like presumption
There’s no death wish like denial

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

I’ve adjusted my prescription
til I couldn’t trust my vision
there’s no killer like convenience
there’s no sickness like omission
I’ve amended resolutions and resisted explanation
There’s no trap door like emotion
There’s no pit like reputation

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion
There’s no cancer like ambition
There’s no cure like crucifixion

There’s no gunshot like conviction
There’s no conscience bulletproof
There’s no strength like utter weakness
There’s no insult like the truth

This is part of a series dissecting the song “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock. In the series, I am taking two of the statements he makes and exploring the depth of meaning behind them and what I can learn about myself in the process.

—

Dear God, as I continue on with this series of journals to you, it can be hard to feel like I’m not repeating myself a bit because, when it all comes down to it, a lot of this comes down to dying to ourselves and letting go. Letting go of secrets. Letting go of independence, control, power, desire, pride, conceit, presumption, denial, convenience, omission, emotion and reputation. Just letting go and getting to the bridge of this song, which I’ll do tomorrow (no cure like crucifixion).

There’s no trapdoor like emotion

Emotion can be good and important. It can be an indicator that something is wrong or that something is right. But it is fleeting and it can’t be depended upon for the longterm. Emotion can get you into a relationship too quickly, and out of one too fast. It can make you paralyzed with fear or depressed with despair.

When I was a freshman at Baylor, they did “Welcome Week” for incoming students, and the t-shirts they gave us had the “Welcome Week Wheel.” The wheel had four areas of our lives that they said should be equal in their weight if we are to have balanced lives: Mental, Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual. The wheel also had a hub in the middle of it where Jesus was. I’ve always liked that representation. Emotion is important, but it can be a trapdoor that can’t be trusted.

Applying this to church, I heard a Christian artist talk about someone telling him after a worship service, “Wow, the Holy Spirit really moved in there.” His reply was, “How could you tell? There was so much going on, how could you tell what the Holy Spirit was doing or saying?” He then made the point that we sometimes mistake an emotional experience for the Holy Spirit. Then we start to depend upon that emotion to sustain us in our faith and walk with you. That can be a trapdoor. The same is true for romantic relationships and friendships. And anger can drive us the other way. Anger can push us away from people who might actually need us.

There’s no pit like reputation

When I think of a pit I think of a place where I’m stuck and the pit is keeping me from getting out. In this case, reputation is the pit that holds me in. Perhaps my reputation keeps me from admitting fault. Maybe it keeps me from stepping out and taking a chance. Maybe it causes me to create a facade that keeps others away and mistreats those that are closest to me. Maybe, and this is the most dangerous, it causes me to create an image that brings glory to me and not to you.

—

Father, help me to, first, keep you in the center of my life. I have had a morning that has been a bit self-indulgent. I’ve been lazy and lethargic. And maybe there’s a place for that sometimes, but I know that at the end of those times I always feel the need for you. I feel like I need your presence to bring me peace. I pray that you will help me to submit my emotions, physicality, mentality, and spirituality to you. Help me to die to myself. Help me to love others richly. And there is someone in particular on my heart right now. I pray for her and her parents. I pray for her siblings. Please help her and all of them.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 4, 2019 in “No Insult Like the Truth” by Charlie Peacock, Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , ,

← Older posts