Working it Out

graffiti image via freephotosbank

I know basically nothing about rap, except that most of it glorifies man and the pleasures of the flesh rather than God and the joy of faith in Christ .  A few years back I was impressed by two artists doing it differently: Curtis Allen aka "Voice," and Shai Linne.  These men write theologically sound, God-exalting rap.  Shai Linne's song Work it Out, which you can listen to here,  was brought to my attention by Mary Kassian, the force behind Girls Gone Wise and one of my favorite speakers/authors on the subject of Biblical womanhood.  I got choked up with longing when I first read the words, and feel the same way reading them today:


She’s not your typical girl
Sixteen years old and she’s dead to the world
Faith by her lifestyle demonstrated
because the gospel penetrated and now she’s regenerated
Her Master is greater than fashions and flavors
She patterns her behavior after the Savior
Back in the days you would have seen her standing in the mirror
Yeah, her skin was clear, but her vanity was clearer
Now she’s in the Scriptures and wants to be like
Hannah and Sarah rather than Christina Aguilera
Wordly girls imitate Missy Elliot
But she wants to be like Elisabeth Eliot
Not flexing her body, see she dresses with modesty
She’s not perfect- she confesses sin honestly
Christ crucified! That’s her permanent shout
And by the grace of the Lord, she’s working it out

She’s not your normal wife
She’s twenty-four and Christ is the Lord of her life
Her walk is evidence that she trusts in God
And it feels so good to be justified
And no, she doesn’t have a Master’s in Divinity
But what she does have is a passion for the Trinity
When she recalls her previous prodigal seasons
And how at times she could be the loudest of heathens
She praises God for making this former feminist
submit to her husband for theological reasons
Worldly wives watch Oprah to learn to be a lady
But she’s reading the writings of Carolyn Mahaney
And she would never disrespect her husband in public
And if she does it, she repents- I love it!
Christ crucified! That’s her permanent shout
And by the grace of the Lord, she’s working it out

She’s not your usual mother
{ahem} years old and she’s true to the lover
of her soul, she beholds the cross where He copped it
Once was agnostic, now she’s adopted
Her passion grows greater as she beholds him
Job title: homemaker/ theologian
Early in her walk, she would fight against His will then
The Lord used her marriage and the Bible to reveal sin
Now she fights to kill sin and her greatest joy is
serving her husband as she’s discipling her children
While worldly mothers stress shopping for the new style
She’s pouring into younger women Titus 2 style
Teaching others how to rightly see brothers and be mothers
And most of all better Jesus lovers
Christ crucified! That’s her permanent shout
And by the grace of the Lord, she’s working it out



Inspired shortly after reading those lyrics I wrote three very short "raps"/poems of my own in a little notebook, which my daughter apparently got a hold of at some point because they are just barely legible under some coloring.  As this is the most finished, I'll share it, and perhaps post the others another time.

Now I Live

Jesus of Nazareth
raised Lazarus from the dead
Does the same for you and me
When the words that he said
go from our heads to our hearts
from the Good Book to our lives
by His death alone we are
justified, purified
Faultless to stand
before the Almighty throne
the Savior Christ saved me,
called me, and made me His own
Not by good works but
a work of great grace
Oh love so amazing for the whole human race
Unfathomable kindness for a sinner like me
I was dead, now I live
Was blind, now I see.

Oh how I want "Christ crucified!" to be my permanent shout!  By the grace of the Lord, I'm working it out.