Sing it Out

I have a habit of listening to songs and hearing things that I want them to mean rather than what they really mean. Its annoying sometimes because when I find out what songs are really about I usually don't like the truth. I like my own little private world where things mean what I want them to. For instance, the Backstreet Boys have a song called “Larger Than Life,” and I never really cared to know what it was about when I was in middle-school and Backstreet Boys were the bees-knees. However, I recently found their Millennium album for 99 cents and decided to buy it. Here are a few of the lyrics:

All you people can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality
Every time we're down
You can make it right
And that makes you larger than life

All of your time spent keeps us alive

The song is clearly about all of the Backstreet Boys' fans...all 1,000,000 of those screaming 12 year old girls...however, in my little world I replaced “All you people” with “Oh my God”....so now it reads a little more like this:

Oh my God can't You see, can't You see

How Your love's affecting our reality

Every time we're down

You can make it right

And that makes You larger than life

All of Your time spent keeps us alive

I know...I'm cheesy. But that's just how my brain works. I like to see things from a different view. I see, hear, smell, taste things in a different way because I know the Who behind the sights, smells, and tastes of the world. I give Him the credit even when the credit wasn't originally given to Him. However, there are some songs that are just hard to not see a dual meaning. I think Paul is right in saying, “...since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20). I think that not only does everyone feel at their core that there is a God, but that whether they mean to or not they sing about Him; they create works of art about Him.

Here's where I'm headed: I heard a song titled, “Sing” by a band called My Chemical Romance...and to be honest I'm not sure what they're talking about—here are the lyrics:

Sing it out,
Boy, you got to see what tomorrow brings.
Sing it out,
Girl, you got to be what tomorrow needs.

For every time.
That they want to count you out,
Use your voice,
every single time you open up your mouth.

Sing it for the boys,
Sing it for the girls,
Every time that you lose it sing it for the world.
Sing it from the heart,
Sing it till you're nuts,
Sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts.
Sing it for the deaf,
Sing it for the blind,
Sing about everyone that you left behind.
Sing it for the world,
Sing it for the world.

Sing it out,
Boy, they're gonna sell what tomorrow needs
Sing it out,
Girl, they're gonna kill what tomorrow brings

You've got to make a choice,
If the music drowns you out.
And raise your voice,
Every single time they try and shut your mouth.

Sing it for the boys,
Sing it for the girls,
Every time that you lose it sing it for the world.
Sing it from the heart,
Sing it till you're nuts,
Sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts.
Sing it for the deaf,
Sing it for the blind,
Sing about everyone that you left behind.
Sing it for the world,
Sing it for the world.


Cleaned-up corporation progress,
Dying in the process.
Children that can talk about it,
Living on the webways.
People moving sideways,
Sell it till your last days.
Buy yourself the motivation,
Generation nothing.
Nothing but a dead scene,
Product of a white dream.
I am not the singer that you wanted,

but a dancer.
I refuse to answer,
Talk about the past,
Sir and wrote it for the ones who want to get away.


Keep running!

Sing it for the boys,
Sing it for the girls,
Every time that you lose it sing it for the world.
Sing it from the heart,
Sing it till you're nuts,
Sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts.
Sing it for the deaf,
Sing it for the blind,
Sing about everyone that you left behind.
Sing it for the world,
Sing it for the world.

You've got to see what tomorrow brings!
Sing it for the world,
Sing it for the world.
Yeah, you've got to be what tomorrow needs!
Sing it for the world,
Sing it for the world.

It makes me wonder what they're supposed to be singing about. It makes me wonder why they should sing at all. I don't know what they're singing about, but I certainly have something to sing about.

I feel like a nerd, but there are a lot of Scriptures that come to mind when I hear this song...Psalm 145 speaks about praising God and His works, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend Your works to another; they will tell of Your mighty acts.” On and on it goes speaking about what God has done-- “Sing it out, girl you got to be what tomorrow needs...”. I think of Jesus warning us that we too would be hated, “All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)--”For every time that they want to count you out. Use your voice every single time, you open up your mouth.”

I think My Chemical Romance unwittingly gave me an anthem. Without meaning to they have encouraged me beyond measure. I want to sing of what God has done. Sing it for the boys, sing it for the girls, every time I'm losing, I will sing it to the world. To the deaf and to the blind, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor!”(Luke 7:22) I want to sing it from the heart, sing it till I'm nuts, until this world hates my guts. I want to dance in the streets like David and proclaim Christ. When the noise of this world tries to drown me out I will sing all the louder. When people try to shut my mouth I will only be encouraged more, because it is to those that are trying to shut me up that I sing. I sing it for the world. I sing it for the ones I left behind. For those who are lost.

So....we're supposed to sing it out. What are you singing out? What are you singing about to the deaf, blind, dead, and dying? Here is what I'm singing:

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in His sanctuary;

praise Him in His mighty heavens.

Praise Him for His acts of power;

praise Him for His surpassing greatness.

Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise Him with the harp and lyre,

praise Him with the strings and flute,

praise Him with the clash of symbals,

praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

~Psalm 150~

Christ is Lord.

Amen.