Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Cross and the Shower

I know many people won't believe me, but I just had a serious shower worship jam session- meaning I jammed out to 'How Great Thou Art' and 'Be Not Afraid' in the shower (very very loudly). As I was getting changed into my PJ's I continued to sing...off key, out of tune, and from my heart. Then something amazing happened; I actually got the song. I have been singing 'How Great Thou Art' my entire life, and for the first time this stanza truly moved me:

"That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin." 

Jesus gladly bled and died to take away my sin. 
          Gladly
                     gladly...
But you know what else died on the cross that day? My addictions, failures, fears, anxieties, hopelessness, guilt, and mistakes. They ALL died on the cross that day, and yours did too. How can we not be totally and completely in love with a God who did all that for us?

I feel that when it comes to any religion in America today, we are too concerned with whose right and whose wrong. Have we forgotten about how great God is? Has religion become a knowledge contest? A game of who is the most right? At G4G we take the "right and wrong" part away. We believe that religion, God, and spirituality is all about discovering and exploring who God is, and who we are in God. Faith is a journey; and it's a journey that we are not going to bog down with hot button issues, or media hype. 
God died gladly to save us. He went through immense pain so that at the end of our lives we would know no pain in heaven. Faith is something we have to live everyday. It's not always easy to figure out what God and faith all mean in our lives, but at G4G we are all about finding out.