The Truth Hurts Sometimes
CBN.com - To love you -- take my world apart
To need you -- I am on my knees
To love you -- take my world apart
To need you -- broken on my knees
Anyone who is familiar with the Contemporary Christian group Jars of Clay realizes that these are song lyrics from the song "Worlds Apart" that appeared on their 1995 self titled debut album. To those of you who are not familiar with the song, these lyrics are nothing more than words on a page. To the literary minded, they comprise some sort of poetic verse. Maybe these words are for you.
Shortly after the new year I awoke one morning humming the chorus to this song. At the time it didn't seem like any sort of epiphany. After all, I consider Jars of Clay one of my favorite musical artists and I own many of their albums. However, these words remained with me through the rest of the day, into the next, and the day after that. In fact, they have lingered with me throughout the winter and have blossomed with the flowers into spring.
But why? I wasn't really quite sure until the other day when I really stopped to ponder what these song lyrics meant. Short of dialing up Dan Haseltine, lead vocalist of Jars of Clay, I was determined to figure this out on my own. "To love you, to need you." Okay, I could understand that. That means to love God and to need Him in our everyday lives. Then came the tricky part ... the words that came after the em dashes (--). Phrases like "take my world apart", "I am on my knees", "broken on my knees". I don't know about you but these words can scare a person half to death. If I am to understand them correctly, they mean if I truly love God through Jesus Christ I am to willingly allow Him to dismantle my world as I drop to my knees repenting and begging for His forgiveness.
Yes.
If this is the case why do so many people have a problem with this?
Allow me to illustrate. If I were to stand at the back door of any evangelical church in America on any given Sunday and randomly asked parishioners the following questions what do you think their responses would be? Furthermore, how would you answer?
Here goes:
1. Excuse me, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
2. Do you truly love Him?
3. Are you a sinner?
4. If so, are you willing to repent because you are truly sorry for the effects of your sin or are you doing so just because you might get caught?
Chances are most people would answer yes to the first two questions and most likely the third. However, the fourth question would probably incite a less desirable response. People would quickly change the subject, stare at their shoes while muttering to themselves, or walk away in shock.
In Second Corinthians 7:10-11, the apostle Paul writes, "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourself to be clear in this matter."
It is difficult to be confronted with our sin and even more difficult to get rid of sin. In this passage, Paul praises the Corinthian people for dealing with a situation that was a trouble spot. When confronted with your sin do you tend to be defensive? I think I speak for many when I say I do.
But what we need to remember as Christians is that no one can be perfect. Only Jesus lived a perfect life without sin. It is important to remember that we have a broken relationship with God until we confess our sins to Him. Or, as I mentioned earlier, when we are down on our knees, broken before our almighty God and savior. We can never be good enough to meet God's standards. But God, in His goodness, has provided a way for us to cleanse ourselves of our sins. A true confession is what He seeks.
Don't let foolish pride stand in the way of confessing your sins to God. How many times have you said to yourself that the sins you are committing aren't really sins? You justify these acts by acknowledging that you are a good person, ie... you attend church every Sunday, you don't steal, and you tithe faithfully. Yet there is some activity in your life that you know is wrong deep within your soul. If so, it is time to confess those sins to the Father.
Always remember the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. Feel the nails being driven through His hands and feet. Consider the crown of thorns so carelessly slammed down on his head. Envision a spear piercing His side. Then consider why He endured such agony. He did so to pay the price for our sins. He did so for you and me.
To love you -- take my world apart
To need you -- I am on my knees
To love you -- take my world apart
To need you -- broken on my knees
Information used in this article from The Transformer Study Bible.
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