The Patriot Post® · In Sync or Lip Sync?

True confession time — I’m a lip-syncing offender! I haven’t been busted yet, but when I am speaking at church and doing all three services, I don’t really sing all the songs every service. My lips are moving but nothing is coming out.

In November of 1990, a Grammy-winning German R&B group, Milli Vanilli, appeared on a live MTV program where they sang one of their hit songs, “Girl You Know It’s True.” Unfortunately for them, the backing track for the song began to skip and the lyrics “girl you know it’s true” played over and over again. The two front men were lip-syncing the lyrics to the song. Apparently, neither one had been gifted with vocal talent. While most of the people present never noticed, some diligent individuals began to research their music and determined that they had indeed lip-synced their hits, resulting in their being stripped of their Grammy Award on November 19, 1990.

The word “sync” is in fairly common usage today. We all know about syncing our computers. It’s a shorthand (you may need to Google that) utilization of the word “synchronization,” which is a critical aspect in warfare. In the movie “Gallipoli,” which detailed a World War I battle in what is now modern-day Turkey, a failure to properly synchronize had tragic results. The artillery fire, which was intended to keep the Turkish forces hiding in their trenches, stopped well before the planned attack time, allowing them to deploy their troops and weapons with devastating consequences to the attacking Australian and New Zealand forces.

Fast-forward to today and lip syncing is now mainstream. As I write, Spike TV is starting its third season of “Lip Sync Battle” where celebrities compete by lip-syncing current hits. Apparently, Milli Vanilli was ahead of their time. My (famous) twin brother, Roger, is fond of saying, “What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces.” The question I need to ask myself is, when it comes to my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, am I in sync or am I lip-syncing? It is possible to get totally in sync with our Lord.

Paul told the Philippian believers to “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5, ESV). The King James phrases it as having this mind, which is in Christ Jesus; in other words, His mind. That only comes to us when we are totally abandoned to King Jesus. In contemporary terms, it means I’m all in! When my heart’s desire is to walk before the Lord, living my life in a manner pleasing to Him, I have the assurance that my mind is in sync with His mind. I can know what He thinks about my intended thoughts, words, and deeds. David, speaking of God, said “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar” (Psalm 139:2). The Hebrew word translated “afar” literally means in their origin. God knows my thoughts and my plans before they ever happen.

Guys, we’re in a war, and we have an enemy that seeks to oppose us and destroy us if possible. But when I get my life in sync with the commander of the Lord of hosts, Jesus Christ, there is no battle that I will lose! My commander has never lost a battle where the troops followed His orders. I don’t know about you, but it’s not my style to be on the losing end of any fight, especially this one. Here is the question of the day: Are you in sync, or just lip-synching?

What say ye, Man of Valor?