A Little Island Gospel

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. – Matthew 6:20 (NIV)

“I got the feeling that there's more like me, Born in Babylon but you just got to be free.  Shackles on your feet that you and me can't see

but you can feel them and they're heavy, so you need that key.

And so you're looking at your hands saying, ‘Man, if I ditch the system these could be mine.’  But then you hear a voice come up from behind, ‘Don't even think about stepping out of line.’”

These are some of my favorite words from one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands called Soldier of Jah Army.  If you know anything about the band then you know they are deeply rooted in Rastafarianism.  Now I am not a Rastafarian and I certainly don’t believe in their basis of Christianity but I do believe that if we are confident in our faith in Christ then we can all learn from other faiths. 

Personally, I am a reggae fanatic!! I just love the music genre.  Much of it has to do with the fact that it takes me to a place in my mind where palm trees sway and life is easy but I also love it because they are often unabashed in their proclamation and love for God.  They write this in their lyrics and sing this in their songs.  Call it the island mans gospel music!  But there is also another very important theme in this music as you can see from the lyrics above.  There is a focus that our treasures are not here on earth but rather stored up in heaven as the Bible says.  The world is a heavy place and in it are heavy burdens to conform to worldly ideas and worldly ways.  Bob Marley’s dying words to his son Ziggy were, “Money can’t buy life.”  How right he is.  The danger of this world is the distraction it brings.  I laugh at how we blame the “culture” for our love affair with worldly things when we are the very people creating that culture.  Still, we go to church and we sing our songs and we pray that God will change the world so we won’t have to deal with it.  Have you ever wondered why he hasn’t done it yet?  Because He is not the one that needs to do the changing.  We are.  The key to removing the shackles on your feet is not to ask the world to change but to ask God to help us all change our focus to where it belongs – on Christ.

In Love,

Jesse