Song: “Time Is .
. .”
Artist: DC Talk
Album: Free at
Last (1992)
Track: 9
One of the hard rocker tracks. Not the best song ever, but rocks pretty good,
so worthwhile in that sense. This is one
of several tracks on the disc that is written in reference to a particular
passage of Scripture, which is something I heartily applaud. Most “Christian” music just has vague
statements about Jesus being my bearded girlfriend, but DCT make a concerted
effort to tie their work to the Bible.
Let’s see if they handle the text properly!
The Good
The passage in question here is Matthew 25:14-30, which is
the parable of the talents. I really
don’t have the space here to retell the story, so give it a read if you don’t
remember it and we can continue.
I am especially interested in the topic here, because it is
one that I’ve done a lot of soul-searching about myself. I have a fulltime job, of course, but you may
not know that I teach guitar on the side, have a one year-old child and another
on the way, and I have other interests, like writing and music. There’s a lot that I would like to do in a
day, and certainly not enough day in which to do it. There are projects at home and at church that
I would like to do. But while I would
have just perhaps run myself to death a few years ago, I cannot do that
now. So the topic of how I use my time
is constantly on my mind. Am I making
the best use of my time? What do I need
to do and what would I like to do? What
do I need to give up in order to make sure I do other things well?
It’s a good topic to tackle.
The answers of DCT’s audience (teens and young adults) are different
than mine now. I have a mortgage and a
family. But even so, the topic is a
worthy one.
Also the focus on actual evangelism is a good one. Evangelism is normally relegated to the side
of Christian life these days, and we end up just waiting for someone to come to
Christ because they saw us being nice once.
Well, maybe that happens somewhere, but most people come to Christ
because they hear the Word proclaimed.
Neither Good nor Bad
But here we run into something very typical for DC Talk,
especially on this album. There is a lot
of bluster on this track, a lot of repetition and, for lack of a better term,
showing off. In the end, we only have
twenty lines of actual content. It’s
rather ironic that in a song about using time wisely, a song that last over
four minutes, we have so much time spent on other things besides the point of
the song.
Now, I’ve said before, I don’t at all mind instrumental
parts to songs, guitar solos, long intros and outros. These things actually make me happy. The songs I write are typically more in the 5
minutes range than the 3 minute range because I like instrumental segments,
especially long guitar solos.
That’s not the problem.
The problem is that the song doesn’t give the content enough time to
actually address the topic adequately.
They wasted their time in the tune, and it turns out the worse for it.
The Bad
That’s the main part of the bad. There is no nuance here. There is no consideration of what needs to be
done and accomplished. The only goal
mentioned is “tell[ing] people ’bout our second birth.” Yes, this is hugely important – much more
important than most people want to admit.
But it mustn’t be our only goal or priority.
Two weeks ago, there was a group from my church going to
evangelize the neighborhood, a group that I had planned to join, but I ended up
canceling because my son had diarrhea and I wanted to be there to help my wife
take care of him. Yes, evangelism is
hugely important, but it’s not the only consideration. We need to consider all things – our
families, the needs of our Christian brothers and sisters, our work, our
health, the community, our own spiritual wellbeing, etc. As important as evangelism is, those people
who forsake even the local body to focus only on evangelism will normally very
quickly be turned to the right hand or to the left. We need to be studying, we need to be under
Elders, we need to be in the community.
These considerations are not in this song, and they need to
be there.
Second issue here is a misunderstanding of the parable. The servant in this parable who buries his
money is not a Christian. His understand
of his master (representing God) is one of a wicked taskmaster, while the
problem never was the master, it was the servant. Like so many of those in rebellion against
the Lord, he seeks to shift blame, to disparage the master, and to make
excuses. His end is the same as all who
love their sin – “outer darkness,” or the lake of fire.
So why is this man called a servant if he does not represent
a Christian? Because that is the best
way to describe the state of this world.
There may be rebellious people in the world, but they are not outside
God’s sovereign domain. They are still His.
But in this case, we see what sort of servant he is by his words and
actions. He does not love his master, in
fact he hates him and thinks him unjust.
He very wickedly disobeys, and then blames the master for that
disobedience. This man represents the
unregenerate sinner who clings to his sin and will not bow before Christ.
But how is he portrayed in the song? He is a “brother” who loses his gift because
he didn’t use them properly.
Let us be clear here.
Our standing before the Master is due to our standing in Christ, not
because of our own doing. We are bid to
approach as adopted children to hear the words we long to hear – “Well done,
good and faithful servant.” We are, in
fact, called to good works. Those works
may be the spreading of the Gospel through evangelism, or it may be helping a
brother in need, or taking care of your family, or working hard at your career
to serve your neighbor in that capacity.
In this way we are investing ourselves into others, and we do make
return on what the Lord has given us.
Overall
Like many of these songs, we have a good topic to sink our
teeth into, but too much time is spent in repetition and not enough into the
discussion that is desperately needed for a good treatment of the topic.
