More country music about Jesus.
When I heard this one, I didn’t like the comparison at all. I thought the idea of Jesus as a “hillbilly” was offensive. For some reason, “country boy” was easy to stomach, but not hillbilly. Afterall, the latter is so unsophisticated and looked down upon—and then I realized what I was doing.
Father, forgive me!
I’ll admit it.
Sometimes I listen to country music.
What can I say? I have eclectic tastes in music. (And everything else.) One thing I notice about country music though is that when a country songwriter sets out to write about faith, they go much deeper and add more emotion than most Christian music. The following song is one of those. It takes the life Christ lives, translates that into what it would mean in today’s culture and makes several profound points. Take a look.
Jesus didn’t die to change people’s sexuality.
He died to change their standing before God.
Jesus didn’t come to stop abortion.
He gave His life to bring eternal life to sinful people.
Jesus didn’t give His life away for the right to bear arms.
He died to set humanity free from sin.
Jesus didn’t walk among us to take away mental illness.
He became a man to redeem the world’s sinful nature.
Jesus didn’t come to talk about science or how we got here.
He came to talk about our need for redemption and to bring us Home.
Jesus didn’t arrive to herald a political revolution.
His concern was delivering us from the rebellion of our hearts.
Jesus didn’t come to tell us about healthy eating and natural medicine.
He came to heal us from our brokenness.
Jesus didn’t come to give us more faith.
He came because our faith is small.
Jesus didn’t come to show us how to “get right with God.”
He came to make us right with God.
Jesus didn’t die to give you prosperity.
Jesus died on a Roman cross because you couldn’t pay your debt.
Jesus came, walked among us and died to rescue humanity from sin.
When we don’t realize this, we make the same mistake as those who missed Jesus 2,000 years ago.
This video, performed by Steve Harvey at one of his comedy shows, depicts how Harvey would introduce Jesus if he had the opportunity. Rob-Roy at streetfishing.org posted a blog about this video and poses the question as to whether or not this is an effective God-pleasing introduction, or an introduction that pleases Satan because it omits any mention of Christ’s work on the cross. Take a look at the video and see for yourself:
What do you think? Do you agree with Rob-Roy? Personally, I’m not sure where I land on this question. I do know my introduction would be a lot different. Here’s what I would say:
Ladies and gentlemen,
I’d like to introduce you to the only person who has ever loved me unconditionally.
I’d like you to meet the One Man who values me enough to travel a journey of billions of miles just to find me when I’ve wandered away.
The Man who gave up all His power, all His glory, all His dignity and His very life just to adopt me into His family.
I’d like you to meet someone who really cares, truly loves and always protects.
I want you to know The One who loves me in spite of me.
Even after all the times I haven’t trusted Him and all the times I’ve betrayed Him, He still keeps coming back for me.
I hurt Him every day and I do an incredibly good job of making Him look bad. Yet, He still cares and doesn’t leave.
My life makes Him look like a liar and a fraud.
But He is still faithful and unchanging.
I shrug Him off and put others before Him like He means nothing,
But the truth is, He is everything.
Without Him, I am nothing.
I’m not even worthy to speak His name.
That about sums up what I would say. How would you introduce Jesus?
If Jesus returned today, would your church accept Him? Would you? This video and the song that goes with it does a good job contrasting the Jesus depicted in the Bible with the one followed in American Christian culture. Take a look for yourself.