Were I to die unexpectedly, and my Spotify playlist to be discovered, what in the world would they think of me?
I mean, there’s everything on there from Michael W. Smith to Toto to Aretha Franklin to Electric Light Orchestra to Frank Sinatra to Lionel Richie to Alabama. From country to classical, and most everything in between.
Eclectic? Yes. Entertaining? Yes. Unpredictable? Yes! Highly. Hundreds of songs that I totally enjoy, with no apparent rhyme or reason. Except …
There is rhyme and there is reason.
As I think about it, each and every song – and there are hundreds on my playlist – is closely attached to an impactful and usually enjoyable moment in my life. For most of the tunes, I can articulate why the song is important to me, and I can tell you where I was and who I was with when I first liked that song. Even when the memory isn’t altogether enjoyable, the moment when I first liked the song was a moment in my life that mattered – and still matters – to me. And so, each song still matters to me. And I still listen and sing along.
For example … “Shower the People” by James Taylor. It’s on my playlist. When I was a kid, my cousin Dona had the “In the Pocket” album, which she played incessantly. Years later, after she became a mom of two, on a Labor Day weekend, Dona was killed in a tragic equestrian accident. I still miss her smiling face (to steal more of James’s thunder), and “Shower the People” always reminds me of my irreplaceable cousin – who was, by the way, very good at “showering the people she loved with love.”
Every one of my songs speaks a powerful memory. I’d fight you if you tried to remove a one of them from my list. They’re my songs. But they’re also something more. They’re windows into my soul, and they expose my deepest longings. More precisely, in fact, they expose one longing above all others: my deepest longing.
C.S. Lewis summarized the phenomenon like this: “These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire … for they are not the thing itself. They are only a scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”
I’m longing for that country. That’s not fatalistic or pessimistic – but optimistic! I’m following in Abraham’s footsteps … “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10).
You and I are following the in the footsteps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because we’re following in the footsteps of faith … “For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland … they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:14-16).
Thankfully, we don’t walk these steps of faith alone. We walk with the One who went before us – our faithful Shepherd who knows exactly what’s over the next hill. And when your scout is as competent as Christ, you don’t have to worry about the peculiar camp that lies ahead. But you can long for it, because it’s going to be far more spectacular than you and I could ever imagine! Our Lord has marked the perfect spot, and soon we’ll soon join Him there by the campfire.
In Christ, we can look expectantly and excitedly toward our ultimate home, because our exalted Jesus is the trailblazer par excellence! Because Christ willingly and sacrificially stepped into the line of fire on our behalf, and suffered the death penalty that we rightfully deserved, He has now stepped ahead of us into the next world. And, because Christ is there, risen and victorious, you and I can step confidently right up to the throne of the living God – right now – and bask in His mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16).
When your song plays, enjoy the moment … but never forget the ultimate longing behind it. The delights of Paradise have been secured for us!
Remind me in my sufferings, Lord.
Remind me in my delights.
Remind me in my wildest dreams …
My deepest craving will never be met here, but only in the life to come. The songs in my ear, and in my heart, reverberate a foretaste of Heaven – where You, Lord, will make all things new.
Pastor Charles
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