Christian Lip-synching

Ashlee Simpson, alleged pop star vocalist, was recently exposed as a lip-syncher during a live performance on the NBC show Saturday Night Live.
The practice is suspected to be rather commonplace though it is routinely denied. The duo Milli-Vanilli suffered a career-ending embarrassment when it was discovered that they routinely performed by lip-synching in order to mask their mediocre-at-best voices. It is widely-thought that singers prone to rather aerobic dance routines rely on lip-synching, as it would be seemingly impossible to maintain one’s steady breathing while performing the wide gyrations and acrobatic contortions that mark many of today’s acts.
Ashlee was uncovered when the wrong accompaniment CD was played and in the confusion, her voice came on when her lips weren’t moving yet. After some awkward dance moves, she slunk off the stage and the accusations began flying.
Now, you may be asking what could that have to do with thinking biblically? Here’s my point: Just because our lips are moving in the right way, it doesn’t mean we’re really singing. Today’s generation of believers seems to have those who know how to parrot or mimic or even lip-synch the right words. But the problem lies in the fact that the words aren’t really OURS. We know what to say, but we don’t believe what we say. We know how to act, but we don’t live like we say we believe. Our lips our moving, but the words don’t come from substance, they come from style.
Why is it that so many people view their faith as something they “visit” rather than who they are? Good “church-going folk” can dress up in their Sunday best and show up at the church with regularity only to be found the rest of the week living like the world and showing their true selves to be phony. Young people attend Christian schools, participate in youth group, know how to respect their spiritual “elders”, but the minute they are freed from the expectations and constraints of their parents, they walk away from their spiritual life never to return. In many ways, they are spiritual lip-synchers. Mouthing the words and rituals, but in their hearts it is just emptiness.
Before we start feeling too self-righteous and smug, how many of us lip-sync our prayers going through the same repetition of words with little thought to their meaning or to whom we are speaking? How many of us can quote Scripture with rhythm and style only to ignore it as soon as we need to in order to do our own thing? How many of us can play the part of a schooled and skilled man or woman of the Word, only to switch roles as soon as we get around those who have no interest in biblical thought and values?
Scripture reminds us that while man tends to look on the outward, God is interested in the inward parts. We might be able to fool those who view us from a distance, but God knows that even though our lips are moving, we aren’t really true to His Word. The result is confusion for those who look to us in anticipation of seeing someone whose words, walk, worship and work all match up.
Ashlee Simpson is just a simple pop star wannabee and in a few years, most people will say “Ashlee who?” Perhaps the most memorable moment of her entire career may have been her public humiliation and exposure. In reality, how you and I live could have a far more significant and lasting impact on others. Indeed, our lives are intended to point others to Christ. Thus when our words and our actions don’t match up, when we say what we don’t mean and we live in contradiction to what we say, we are setting people up for more than an “I told you so” or a disappointment. The consequences could be eternal.
Let’s purpose to mean what we say and to say what is right and biblical. Enough of a shallow form of Christianity which allows us to perform rather than be authentic. Let’s let our words be true, let our walk be consistent and let our lips speak the truth -- not an illusion!

[Back to Home]