Give me Jesus.

"Often, in the business of life, we forget what Christ has done for us. Our eyes begin to drift from the truth, and before we know it, we can believe a thousand lies about who He is and who we are or aren’t. This song was written to remind us who we truly are and what we have because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ." - Shane Barnard

I think somewhere along the way we've begin forgetting what it means to live out a faith. The Church has all these 'rules' that we are to follow. And according to them, if we do them successfully without screwing up too bad, then we're alright. We're good people. Or, how about the Churches that tell us we have to be 'fine' always, because we love Jesus? And because we love Jesus, we are automatically happy, because that's what Christianity does to you.. it makes you smile. And then one day, if you forget to put up your fake wall that says your 'fine' your just some lost soul that doesn't even know anything about Jesus.

All Churches do this to some degree. They all have their own standard of what Christianity should look like. 

What makes it all a little bit ironic is this: all these rules are designed to help you get to a Jesus that has already broken apart any 'rule' coming down to us. Rather than trying to bring ourselves UP to a standard approvable for Jesus, He came DOWN to us that way no standard was needed at all. 

"For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." -Matthew 9:13.

When Jesus lived on earth, He went to the people who didn't follow a set of rules. 

He went to the ones who weren't just 'fine.'

Jesus didn't die to encourage the righteous and the 'good people'; He died for the helpless. 

That's why I hate when Churches try and portray themselves as a congregation who is so happy all the time, because according to some materialistic standard that's how Christianity should be. 

That's not how it is at all. In reality: 

We are really, really broken people. 

We are incredibly helpless.

We are lost. 

We are not 'fine'.

And as soon as we, as a body of Christ, can humble ourselves long enough to admit that to the Creator of the world; to the one who's allowed you all access to Him; to the one who is patiently waiting for us to be real.. when we can admit it to him, it's then we begin to experience true joy in the Lord. 

Joy. Not happiness. Joy. (Nehemiah 8)

Passion.

Love. 

Trust. 

Hope. 

We can't experience these things through a surfaced religion that follows a set of rules and fake personas. 

It's not until then, the Church can start changing the world. This world won't change because of tough surfaces, it'll change through vulnerability. 

I'm tired of watching people hurt because of the pride they've grown up with inside of Church.

Break down the walls; the Son of God has already torn the veil. He's waiting. 

"The Curtain of the temple was torn in tow from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surly this man was the Son of God!" 

Mark 15:38,39.

"Here I am, I'm calling out Father. 

Can you hear me? Can you here me?

I don't wanna go without you.

Here I am, can You talk a little louder?

So I can hear You, I want to hear You.
I don't want to move without You. "

-Shane&Shane

Jesus rocks.