I don’t listen to much Christian music. I find, like most Christian-centric entertainment that often it is cheesy, shoddily produced, focused on shoehorning a Bible verse in rather than telling a compelling narrative or creating good characters we can relate to. I said most, before people start emailing me with links to different Christian music/books/comics/films.
However, I stopped and listened to Toby Mac’s song “When Love Broke Thru” this evening, and watched the accompanying video. I’m skeptical of Toby Mac in general, as most of his work in the past has, in my opinion, fallen in the category above. That said, I found this song to be poignant, and the video to be even more so.
The video has Toby Mac walking through streets that seem self-absorbed to the point where they can’t even move aside for his singing, but the main story has an elderly black man entering the middle of a riot scene, a scene we’re familiar with in America the last year or so, as conditions have failed to improve economically for a lot of inner cities, and we’ve been under siege of relentless negative agitation by the media. He stands up and faces the crowd, and someone does cast a stone at him, presumably for standing with “the wrong side”, as he is faced the same direction as the police.
A police officer breaks his wall, comes down, taking off his mask to try to help the gentleman up. A younger black gentleman takes exception, and it looks like the white officer and him are going to get into a fight, until the older black gentleman grabs them both and prays. In that moment, they gain a connection that transcends any sort of racial divide they had before, a connection with the Almighty God Creator, and they come together to take the older gentleman, still injured from the large stone he was hit with, to safety.
The message is simple: the only way we will come together through what seems immeasurable differences is through the grace of God. That is literally all that matters, and what we should put our focus toward in the future. Seeking Christ is the only way we will ever heal and ever overcome hate. It is written: “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6
I don’t like to preach a lot, but as the title says, this video moved me. I hope it moves you too.
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