Song Meanings: Say the Same

You can stream and purchase this song at http://undertheroseband.com/track/say-the-same.

Lyrics

As you stare at your TV all alone
While you’re hiding inside your gilded home
Take a look at the comfort you know
It will never be what it’s claimed to be

Are you here to fulfill the call of Truth?

Or just to follow the wealth you’ve known since youth?

None of it will come to any use

Such a life to lose

Such a path to choose

He defends the widow and the fatherless

He relieves their pain

He’s not afraid of the cripple on the street

Can I say the same?

Or am I to blame?

Take a look at the neighbors down the street

The broken family that you never tried to meet

It’s so easy when your life is complete

There’s no need to look out your own front door

Now decide; face the light before you run out of time

Take your cross, give your life

Before you bow to the lie

Are you ready to say that you lived like Him?

Do you live like Him?

My Life as a Spoiled American

The Baby Boomer generation experienced an average standard of living unparalleled in our nation’s history. Housing, cars, and technological conveniences became available to the masses, and arms races of gadgetry began in middle-class neighborhoods all over the United States. As a child of Baby Boomers, I am the beneficiary of this luxury. In addition, there have been no military drafts during my lifetime. And until 2008, the economy had been pretty stable during my 27 years.

I am thankful for all this. However, in my high school and college years, I often looked forward to my adult life through the lens of my childhood living standard. I expected to continue in and even exceed the wealth of my parents’ generation. In my middle-class, white, Christian bubble, it was impossible to understand the depth of poverty and crime that existed in the world. I ignored these things instead of exploring them. I wanted to pursue advanced college degrees and high salaries for the sole purpose of comfort. I would have my nice house, nice yard, and nice school zone, and I would spend all my energy, time, and money maintaining these luxuries. (And of course, there was my parallel and incongruous pursuit of rock stardom…)

The Ongoing Questions 

By itself, wealth is not evil. First Timothy 6:17–19 and Matthew 6:19–34 both say that each individual should devote himself to God above all else. Then, if God decides to bless an individual with wealth, the individual should be generous with it and understand that it is a gift from God. For me, this leads to a difficult series of questions. Am I pursuing God or my own desires? Why do I live in my current home? Why am I working my current job? I don’t mean to say that people should all sell their possessions and live in communes. (If God directs a certain group of people to do that, more power to them. He has not led me to this conclusion for my life.) This is something each person must work out with God.

“Say the Same” is a simple record of this ongoing conversation with God. Am I serving God or money? Am I tuning out the world or trying to love the people around me? Does my worship consist only of church services and “quiet time,” or is it a lifestyle of personal devotion and obedience, following the pattern established by Isaiah 58 (spoken during the song’s bridge)? 

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Biblical References: Isaiah 58, Matthew 6, 1 Timothy 6

--Aaron