Backseat Driver || TobyMac || Track 15

Song: TobyMac – Backseat Driver (Lyric Video) ft. Hollyn, Tru

It’s been a crazy long time since I wrote a “Let’s Listen To” blog. In fact, the last time I wrote one was October 21, 2021. It’s been over a year since you’ve seen me write out some of my favorite contemporary Christian music. How could I let that happen? Truth be told is that I got lazy and complacent with my blog site. While you saw consistent blogs for almost all of 2022, most of these messages were ones I already wrote last year for my church and scheduled since this past summer. July was the last time I touched my website to write or change something. That is now changing. By now, you’ve seen my “Welcome 2023!” blog and know I have new series on the horizon and a heavier focus on my podcast. There will be new material all year long (hopefully)! Enough of that. Let’s jump into today’s song!

We’re going to listen to “Backseat Driver” by TobyMac ft. Hollyn and Tru. This was one of the first contemporary Christian songs I ever preached. The message was perfect and fitting for the graduation recognition service I led. The music was bumpin’. TobyMac was spittin’ bars like no one’s business alongside Hollyn and Tru. It’s a great song to listen to if you need energy. Let’s break it down.

If you’re new to my “Let’s Listen To” series, I recommend you read the past 14 tracks to get the low down on how these work. There’s a tab on the website with them all there and a Spotify playlist with all the music. To start, I usually research articles the artist has done about the music to understand why they produced this song. Then, I’ll take some of my favorite music parts and explain why I connect with them. Simple as that.

Behind the Song

From my research, I tried to find articles or interviews with TobyMac about this song. Nothing popped up. This means we will jump right into my favorite lyric of this song.

Lyrical Breakdown

It’s a whole new journey, a brand new path

And I’ma fix my eyes so I won’t look back

Tame this beating heart in my chest

‘Cause everything in me wants to jump head

Trying to navigate life with Jesus as your Savior is a challenging journey. Not because Jesus makes it difficult. It’s because we are so used to doing things our way that when we try to follow someone else’s way of doing something, it makes things hard. Change is hard. New things to incorporate into old routines take a lot of work. I know it’s mid-February, but you might still be working on your New Year’s Resolution when this blog is released (it’s Christmas Eve as I write this). First things first, kudos to you because that is a challenging feat. Secondly, please reflect on how difficult it’s been. For those whose resolutions are on pause (because we NEVER quit resolutions, right?), I want you to reflect on why you’re on pause. Is it because the work to make the change is difficult? Is it because you need to see immediate changes? Something else? Typically, for me, it’s usually one of those two reasons. I’m a tangible result person, meaning I need to see the results to reinforce the fact that progress is happening. When it comes to life changes like losing weight or working out, those results may happen immediately, but they also can take forever. I give up if it’s not happening as fast as I want. The work could be better. This song shows us how to slow down and realign our focus.

We should fix our eyes on Jesus. Focusing on him and how he wants us to be should be the goal. It’ll be challenging because the world will show us more delicious things, but that’s why you see the word “fix” used here. I have this image of Tom from Tom and Jerry, taping his eyelids open, so he doesn’t lose sight of Jerry. The same concept applies here. Fix your eyes on Jesus, and don’t look back. Don’t look at how you were. It’s a comfortable place to stay because it’s familiar, but you know you want to be somewhere else. You want to be in a better place. Yes, it may be hard to get there, but if you want it bad enough, you will stick through the rough parts. I think of the Israelites after they were rescued from slavery in Egypt. Wandering through the desert was hard on them. It was so bad that they wanted to return to Egypt because they got good food. They had a routine. They had a purpose. When you wander, it’s easy to feel like you don’t have a purpose. This is where God can help out.

We need to ask God to help our hearts slow down. We want to do things our way on our time. We don’t want to wait for God to help get us there. We live in a culture that lives quickly. We’re quick people trying to do things quickly. Yet, Jesus taught his people to slow down and rest. To take his yoke because it’s burdenless and light. Meditate day and night on God’s word (I know God is telling Joshua this, but shush. God and Jesus are in the Trinity and therefore are the same.) 

What’s an excellent way to slow down? Release our control to God. Take a backseat and let God take the wheel. Move when God tells you to move. Stay where God tells you to stay. Speak how God wants you to speak to others. Allow God to guide you. Have faith that you will be led on the proper path. It’s hard. I don’t want to minimalize this, especially since this is something that I’ve wrestled with a lot in my Christian journey. Yet, it’s worth it. Don’t backseat drive God. Be a passenger alongside him as you travel through life.

That’s where I am going to wrap this up. Hope you guys will enjoy the music. There’s a link to his YouTube video for this song, and again, it will be on the Spotify playlist on the “Let’s Listen To” tab of the website. If not, yell at me in the comments. I’ll be back next week as we start our brand-new series called “Deeper Creation,” where we will look at the Creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 and see how it’s connected throughout the rest of the Bible. Until then, everyone. Stay blessed!