Singing Savior The Bible tells us that when Jesus came up out of the waters of Baptism he heard a voice from heaven saying, “this is my Son, in whom I’m well pleased.” Now let’s couple this occurrence together with a couple visual images in order to make one big point. First, consider the singing of the birds in light of Jesus’ Baptism. Research has shown that where birds are present and singing, things grow and flourish. Where birds are absent, living things struggle and die. Second, couple together with the previous two thoughts the image of God as a singing Saviorin Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. At Jesus’ Baptism, he heard the singing of heaven. It echoed around him like a circling bird’s song over a garden. The lyric was “this is my Son, in whom I’m well pleased” (Luk. 3). It’s no wonder that after this occurrence, Jesus was able to walk boldly and confident into the wilderness to suffer (Lk. 4:1); only then, did he after that  “begin his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit” (Lk. 4:14). Hearing that voice of pleasure over him sustained him through the Devil’s attacks in the desert when Satan prodded sarcastically, “if you are the Son of God …” Jesus carried the pleasure of the Father’s song with him, and even through hardship, his inner garden grew even without water. Jesus’ inner song grew up so veraciously that the Spirit welled up in him like a waterfall. His living water released a power that brought life to a dry earth and a dead humanity. Jesus is our singing Savior, and if he indeed is standing over us right now, and in audio, expressing his pleasure over us, our lives will surely change when we hear it. It’s the song we need to hear to thrive, grow, and remember our value as sons and daughters. Don’t tell me that lyrics wrapped up in sound don’t mean anything. They help us grow, or they kill us. As a result, I think we need to assess our success not by asking along with Capital One, “what’s in your wallet,” but by asking “what’s in your music?” *For...