Telling How He Has Had Mercy on You

Another annual award show was staged on Sunday, the Grammys. (Not to be confused with the Grandmas.) In case you missed it, the show was as much about political posturing and taking “fashion” to the extreme as it was recognizing achievements of singers and musicians. I saw only highlights of it, but it was clearly a celebration for self-indulgence.

 

There was one exception: Jason Bradley DeFord, known by his fans as Jelly Roll, received three prestigious awards. His honors included Best Contemporary Country Album for his album, Beautifully Broken; Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song with Brandon Lake for "Hard Fought Hallelujah," and Best Country Duo/Group Performance with Shaboozey for "Amen."

 

The difference was that instead inserting social commentary in accepting his last award, the 41-year-old singer expressed heartfelt gratitude to the ones who had literally changed his life. After winning the Grammy for his album, he credited Jesus and his wife, Alisa DeFord, in a brief acceptance speech. 

 

“I know they’re going to try to kick me off here, so just let me try to get this out. First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I’m listening, Lord. I am listening, Lord,” Jelly Roll started. "Second of all, I would have never changed my life without You. I’d have ended up dead or in jail. I’d have killed myself if it wasn’t for you (Alisa) and Jesus. I thank you for that,” he said.

 

“There was a time in my life, y’all, that I was broken. That’s why I wrote this album. I didn’t think I had a chance, y’all. There was days that I thought the darkest things. I was a horrible human.”

 

Then, holding up a small Bible, Jelly Roll continued, “There was a moment in my life that all I had was a Bible this big and a radio the same size and a 6-by-8-foot cell. And I believed that those two things could change my life. I believed that music had the power to change my life. And God had the power to change my life.

"I want to tell y'all right now, Jesus is for everybody," he added. "Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by no music label. Jesus is Jesus, and anybody can have a relationship with Him. I love You, Lord.!"

  

Other artists had received ovations after spouting political commentary that reinforced the prejudices of many in the audience. However, when Jelly Roll concluded there was a comparative smattering of applause. For some, their refusal to applaud signaled disdain for what he had to say. But perhaps for others, the magnitude of his mini-testimony was reverberating in their minds and hearts.

 

For all who saw his speech – it's on YouTube or the social medium of your choice – it was an unforgettable, live-and-in-person example of Jesus’ command to “…be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Even to the so-called A-list of musical entertainment.

 

Jesus told His followers – including us – that as we go about our lives, wherever we are, we’re to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16). Jelly Roll did that, giving credit where it was due – to his faithful wife, and especially to his Savior and Lord. In the process, he shined the light of Christ and sprinkled the salt of the Gospel.

 

In another of the gospels we read about Jesus casting demons out of a man who had been possessed by evil for many years. After this miracle, the former demoniac asked the Lord if he could go with Him. Instead, the Lord instructed him to, “‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.’ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed” (Mark 5:19).

 

This is what He’s calling each of us to do: Tell others how much Jesus has done for us. We might not have spent years in prison for various crimes. We might not have the fame and talent of a Jelly Roll. And we might not have needed to have demons exorcised from our bodies. Our testimonies might be as simple as that of the man who was healed of blindness. When questioned by the Pharisees about what had happened, he responded simply: “…I was blind but now I see” (John 9:25).

It doesn’t matter. All around us are people who don’t know Jesus Christ, how He atoned for our sins on the cross, and how He came to offer what nothing else on earth can provide: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). They don’t know there’s a vast difference between religion and having a relationship with God through Christ. They simply don’t know what they don’t know. It’s our job to tell them if they’re willing to listen. Are we willing to do our job? 

Can You See Clearly Now?

Where would some of us be without eyeglasses? I began wearing them regularly in my mid-20s. Since I’m near-sighted, my glasses are necessary for seeing more distant objects.

Unlike many people my age, I don’t need to extend my arms to read a newspaper or a book. But for things farther away, like a movie screen, road signs, or even recognizing people in a large room, my eyeglasses are indispensable.

Historians say vision aid devices date back to the Greeks and Romans. After all, didn’t Julius Caesar once tell Brutus, “I’m keeping an eye out for you”? (Didn’t work out too well.) But apparently the first real eyeglasses were invented in Northern Italy, near Pisa, around 1290. That might have been when the builder of the famous tower put on some glasses and realized, “Man, my tower’s leaning! Oh, well.”

Our pastor recently told a story about his father, who received his first pair of eyeglasses after immigrating to the United States. The dad didn't know how bad his uncorrected sight was until returning to Switzerland. For the first time, he could clearly see the spectacular vistas of the majestic Alps and the rolling hills that had been a part of his childhood.

Having poor sight physically isn’t the only visual limitation hampering some people. They also have a need for spiritual “eyeglasses,” for which there’s only one accurate prescription. As author, academician and one-time atheist C.S. Lewis wrote, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen — not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Faith in Jesus Christ provided him with 20:20 eyesight into the spiritual realm. With that vision Lewis wrote such thoughtful classics as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, and the acclaimed Chronicles of Narnia fantasy series.

Just as we can’t simply choose to see more clearly with our physical eyes, but must use the “spectacles” prescribed for us, the Scriptures tell us the ability to perceive spiritual truth isn’t a matter of personal choice either. The apostle Paul wrote, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Speaking of our spiritual enemy, Jesus said, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them" (John 12:40).

So how can we acquire spiritual “vision-correctors”? We find an example in the story of the blind man who received sight from Jesus. As people marveled as this once-sightless man suddenly staring at everything around him with opened eyes, he admitted that although he didn’t fully understand what had happened, “…One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25).

It’s the same for each of us. At one time, we were blinded to spiritual understanding. But when God through His Spirit opens our eyes, we can’t help but see. As Steve Brown of Key Life Network likes to say, “Once you’ve seen the truth, you can’t un-see the truth.”

What are the benefits of receiving the spiritual vision only God can provide? For starters, we begin to see Him for who He truly is: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

We find ourselves able to better comprehend what He has revealed in the Scriptures: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 199:18). Truth that once seemed so obscure becomes obvious.

And in the process, we discover we’ve also gained the ability to see things the way God sees them: As Jesus told His followers, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35). We begin to perceive things – and people – around us from the Lord’s point of view.

A question I must ask myself daily is, how well are my spiritual eyeglasses working? Am I even bothering to use them?