Jesus is my DJ

You know something I love? I love it when a good song is playing while I’m getting ready in the morning. The best songs are the ones that make me want to dance. This is no easy feat. It’s pretty tough to be motivated to shake what you’ve got when it’s 6am and you haven’t had your coffee yet.

This morning was one of those blessed mornings. I had far more energy then usual, despite trouble sleeping, because good tunes were blasting through the house. This made everything fun. Brushing my teeth was fun. Ironing my shirt was fun. Shaving was fun. Annoying my wife by having lots of energy was fun.

The vibe continued into the car where the radio was on. I heard a song on the radio this morning that I haven’t heard before. (I’m a bit surprised by this since the song has been out for a while.) I enjoyed the song quite a bit, and it‘s been stuck in my head all morning. It’s not the best song ever, but three reasons help one make an argument that it’s good:

1. It was upbeat and fun
2. It made me dance in my seat unashamed of what other drivers thought of me
3. It made me think.

However, it was a radio edit, and the original contains foul language. This surprised me. I somehow missed the objectionable lyrics. This is the funny thing about radio. If you’re like me and a bit innocently clueless, you can think that a song says something it doesn’t. What do you mean James Blunt wasn’t actually “flying high”?

What’s got me writing about this song is the lyrics of the chorus: “If God is a dj then life is a dance floor.”

Really?

Is God a dj?

Is He up in Heaven standing at some turn tables?

No, not really. While that mental image makes me smile I don’t think it’s an accurate picture of God.

Well, then what’s the point? End of discussion right? It’s just a silly pop song about nothing.

Maybe not.

I love the consequential language of the song. I’m convinced we don’t consider consequences enough -- especially when it comes to God. If God is, or acts a certain way, consequences follow. As the song says, if God is a do then life is a dance floor. God is ________ and ________ is a result.

How often do we get it backwards and infer attributes of God based on what we observe?

We see hurt and think God is a god who hurts. Or we see injustice and think that God can’t be just to allow it.

We forget that God is who He is.

And He was before the world existed.

Unfortunately the world is the way it is, partly, because there are other forces playing out. Sin changed how things happen in this world. Now we don’t only see good at work, but we see evil also. We can’t go backwards in this. We need to start with the truths of God, and then look to see them on display in the world.

God doesn’t so much react to the world as the world reacts to God.

And what are the truths of God? What do we know to be true of Him?

God is good.

God is just.

God is love.

God is patient.

God is kind.

God cares about people.

God knows us.

God delights in His creation.

And there are many more truths.

What then, are the consequences, or results, of these truths? How do each of these characteristics of God play out?

If God is good then what?

I encourage you to spend some time thinking about the truths of God and what that means for our world. I’ll be doing that as I dance to the tunes my dj is playing: as awkward and as clumsy a dancer as I am I’m sure He will be pleased.