Much Too High a Price!
Yesterday’s sermon from our pastor and the fact we listened to a Casting Crowns song, made me think of another Casting Crowns song I love (If We Are The Body) which brought to mind something I wrote about that song before. I’d like to share that today as a good reminder/challenge/encouragement to us all.
I was listening to If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns this morning. I haven’t listened to this song in so long. I forgot how much I love it. I love it because of how the lyrics challenge us as Christians, but I start off hating the fact I’ve grown lazy in many areas and often forget my role as part of the body of Christ! However, once I get past those self-loathing feelings, I realize God is using those words to remind me of His purpose for all of us as Christians, so I appreciate the loving slap in the face.
The chorus in this song asks a lot of “Why aren’t…” questions. I think the answer is quite simple. We are focused on ourselves, not on God’s will. It is easy to want to just think about the things in our own lives and get drowned in our everyday activities, rather than looking outward as God commands us. Yeah, that whole love your neighbor as yourself thing. We need to remember what is before that — Love God, with all your heart, soul, and mind. I know when I don’t start with loving God the only people I care about are me, myself, and I. When I actually try and show love towards others I also find myself exhausted or with wrong motives when I don’t start with loving God. Boy, are we ugly creatures sometimes!
The best part of this song in my opinion is the bridge, “Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should come, we are the body of Christ.” I’ve heard this song hundreds of times for sure and to this day every time I am actively listening to it and hear this verse I will get goose bumps. It really is amazing how we dare to play God by thinking we know who will or won’t come to know Jesus and/or use our wisdom to determine whether or not talking to someone about God is worth it! I always thank God for not giving up on me and continuously putting Christians in my life despite me “torturing” them most of the time before He graciously saved me. I thank God for people like the apostle Paul, whose persecution of Christians made me look like a saint in my pre-Christian days. Imagine if Peter, John, and some of the early apostles stood firm on not accepting Paul to “come” thus affecting Paul’s mission to go share Jesus with the non-Jewish world. Pretty scary thought huh? Oh, the ways we may limit God’s impact on people by being know-it-alls.
Not our way, JESUS IS THE WAY!
—6/4/2011
I stand by most of that, but would probably change a few things now a decade later. I’ll save that for another day though. The question from yesterday that sparked this was regarding what it says about us when we question God’s decision/judgment on who is saved, as well as the sorrow we feel about those who will be lost forever. We had some great discussion amongst the members of our church which I will refrain from sharing here. But, I’d like to toss this two-part question over to anyone reading today — In what ways are you playing “Lord & Savior” of your own life AND/OR placing your thoughts & feelings above God’s Word? I hope that leads to some constructive thoughts.
Since I mentioned the song, If We Are The Body, of course I have to include that too. Even if you’ve heard it many times before, I hope you will listen to it fresh today!