Song Review: “Lost the Plot” by the Newsboys

My sons are 11 and 9 years old. This means that they’re making the transition right now from Veggie Tales to the Newsboys, basically.

For my own part, the Newsboys have never been one of my favorite bands. I was raised on country music, and even as I’ve moved to Contemporary Christian Music, I’m much more a fan of Rich Mullins, Mitch McVicker, Chris Rice, Andrew Peterson, Point of Grace, and the like. Nice, soft, tame … (Okay, so I also like the W’s. But that’s swing … everyone likes swing!)

The Newsboys are a rock band, really. I find myself, though, enjoying their music much more than I would have expected. The power of lyrics is amazing.

One song in particular, I’d like to discuss. “Lost the Plot,” off the album “Take Me to My Leader,” is one of those songs that has surprised me.

It’s a grunge-rock-style song. The first time I listened to it, I really didn’t enjoy it. That’s because I was just listening to the music itself. Now, I find myself singing it around the house. I’ve remarked to my wife that maybe this is my mid-life crisis.

But here’s the first verse:

When you come back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard a rumour that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
sigh.
Let’s be blunt.
I’m a little distracted.
What do you want?

Yeah … look at that attitude about Jesus’ return. “When You come back again, would You bring me something from the fridge?”

How many of us get casual about Jesus, His return, and who He is? Do we really take it that seriously?

Sigh … let’s be blunt. We are, in fact, more than a little distracted. And I think that a lot of us do, in our day to day lives, more or less ask God, “What do You want?” because we think that we have more important things to do. You know, making our living or whatever else.

Headaches and bad faith
are all that I’ve got.
First I misplaced the ending
then I lost the plot.

Bad faith leads to headaches, you know … but it really does sum up the truth of the matter, doesn’t it? In a lot of ways, we have forgotten the purpose of our faith, and what it all means. Being a Christian isn’t about hanging out in youth groups, reading books, watching movies, or wearing the right t-shirts; it’s about service to God and the world. Too many of us, though, have forgotten to keep focused on God and Heaven, and so we’ve stopped doing the work to which we were called.

Out among the free-range sheep
while the big birds sharpen their claws.
For a time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn’t play Santa Claus.
sigh.
Let’s be blunt.
We’re a little distracted.
What do you want?

Out in the world, living with everyone, we tend to spend some time aware of our shortcomings and trying to live differently. We know what’s out there to destroy us (the big birds), and we want the protection of our Shepherd. But, all too often, we fall away. God doesn’t accept the role of Santa Claus, just giving us what we ask for. Whether we fall away completely or just cease to live fruit-bearing lives, too many Christians don’t see what we’re getting out of the Christian life, and so stop living it.

Then we go into a double-chorus:

Once we could follow,
now we cannot.
You would not fit our image,
so we lost the plot.

Once we could hear you,
now our senses are shot.
We’ve forgotten our first love.
We have lost the plot.

Once, we could follow. Yes, we could. When we first became Christians, it seemed to make so much sense, right? But for too many, it then gets to be too … something. Too tedious? Too difficult?

In any case, a lot of us fall away from it. We stop trying to live what we believe. In many cases, this is because we have an idea of what God should be or do, and He doesn’t always live according to our expectations. He has His own ideas. His own plans. As stupid as it is, we make demands of God and then get disenchanted with Him for not fulfilling them.

We’ve forgotten our first love … sadly, yes. The love that should be the most important in our lives is often relegated to subordinate status because we just don’t care. We don’t want Him to have the central place that He deserves. We have other things to do.

It is at this point that the song gets well beyond my usual tolerance for style. The following stanza is screamed into the microphone, which is not my style at all. But as I’ve read the lyrics, it just gets too powerful to ignore. This afternoon on the way back home, I was actually going right along with it …

When I saw you for the first time
you were hanging with a thief
And I knew my hands were dirty,
and I dropped my gaze.
Then you said I was forgiven
and you welcomed me with laughter.
I was happy ever after.
I was counting the days
when you’d come back again.
we’ll be waiting for you
When you comin’ back again?
we’ll be ready for you
Maybe we’ll wake up when…
maybe we’ll wake up when
you come back again.

When we first come to know Jesus, we see the image of Him hanging with the thieves. We understand the conviction of our sin. We repent. We mean it. We get eager for His return, really. We love being accepted with laughter and open arms. We appreciate being loved.

But time drags, doesn’t it? We’re ready for Him to come back again … any day now …

… We’re ready.

… Come on …

… Are You coming?

So, the song moves on to the idea that we won’t be ready for His return, but maybe we’ll wake up when He actually comes back. Of course, the song isn’t through with this idea … we move from the bridge back into a pre-chorus:

lies.
Let’s be blunt.
We’re a little unfaithful.
What do you want?

This is when the song comes back to condemning what’s been described. Everything to do with ignoring God is wicked, and all of the excuses are lies. Let’s be blunt … it’s not being distracted or impatient. It’s being unfaithful.

Are you still listening?
`Cause we’re obviously not
We’ve forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot.

This chorus is pretty harsh … Why is God still listening to us, since we’re obviously not listening to Him?

And why are you still calling?
You forgave, we forgot.
We’re such experts at stalling
that we’ve lost the plot.
lost the plot

Why does He keep calling us?

I have to admit, the line “You forgave, we forgot” is one of my favorite song lines anywhere. It’s so brilliant in its utter simplicity. And it’s so true.

How many of us, as Christians, remember that our rightful fate is eternal condemnation? By God’s grace, we’re adopted into a Heaven-bound family. If not for that wholly-undeserved grace, though, we’d be condemned. And, yet, we forget. We ignore that reality, because we have other things to do. We’ve become experts at putting off our service, and doing other important things in the meantime.

This song is not one that I would have expected ever to be a favorite of mine … and I’m not really sure how long it will remain so before I return to my Rich Mullins and Andrew Peterson. However, it’s a powerful song and very honest. It’s also a powerful rebuke to all of us whose Christian lives are not always as strong as they should be.

Have we lost the plot? If so, is it because we forgot the ending?