My life

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"Jesus is my life," the pastor of Vantage Point Church, Rustenburg, exclaimed casually today, and I love how he said it.

It reminded me of teens, or myself as a teen, pointing out some rock band or ideology with the exclamation, "Music is my life" as though music gave me breath, gave me love, gave me eternity.

When the pastor said those words, "Jesus is my life", he said it with an emphasis on "life". It made me really proud to be able to use that expression and this time equating life with its source rather than an idol.

I realise now that making anything other than Jesus your life is actually just idolatry. When you say, "Music is my life", what you are meaning is that you love music above everything else. Music gives meaning to your life in a way that nothing else does, and you can't imagine your life without it. Furthermore, you don't think you could live without music.

That is why I love that song by Michael W. Smith which begins with the words,
"When the music fades, and all is stripped away,
and I simply come, longing just to bring something that's of worth...

I'll bring you more than a song
for a song in itself is not what you have required
you search much deeper within
through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart."

Worship is more than music. And life is more than music. God is the life we worship.

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