The Final Countdown, pt. 2

See. I told you that really wouldn't be the final one. Well, as I was saying...Sort-of along those same lines... I've become aware lately of the possibility that we Christians are too nice, too sweet, too easily molded into something attractive to the world. A friend sent me a YouTube video of a pastor that really stirred me. You can watch the clips here if you like. Don't worry, It's not a whole sermon or anything, just bits.


Then, a couple days ago, I heard this song on the radio and what I heard was completely different than what I would have heard before I watched that video. Here are the lyrics:






Give me rules, I will break them.
Show me lines, I will cross them.
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves and breathe
To sweep me off my feet, it's gotta be




More like falling in love than something to believe in
More like losing my heart than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out, come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love.




Give me words, I'll misuse them
Obligations, I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free, it's gotta be




Deeper and deeper
It was love that made me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me, it's gotta be...


Chorus


A lot of that is true and sweet, but...
but....
Is God's calling without lines and limits? Is being His child void of rules? Is it just like falling in love and being on a "honeymoon high" with our God? Sometimes. If we depend on that emotion, we won't stick with Christianity for long.
There are too many questions that will demand answers or will at least demand that we look at them square in the eyes and say that we don't know the answers but will still choose to serve our God. There are too many situations where we will be uncomfortable and even derided for the sake of our God. (persecution, hello!) There is too much at stake to hang it on something that's "like being in love."
I was almost embarrassed for the writer of this song telling God "It's gotta be" this way or else I'm not going to be able to follow through with it. Yes, there is grace for our unwilling, dis-abled human hearts. Yes, our Lord woos us as a lover and wants us for His bride. But, just as in a marriage, it takes the fortitude of commitment to grow the relationship. It takes a commitment to honoring the rules, the lines and the obligations. The things is, the more you grow together, the sweeter the obligations become and the farther from the lines you stay.