Return

Pastor Steven Furtick has released a new book. The Seven Mile Miracle. Since then he has been working on lessons from the book and doing 7@7. Which is a little lesson for your morning at 7 am. This morning they had their praise and worship leader, Chris Brown. I have been so busy the last 3 mornings that I haven't gotten to listen to the lessons. However, this morning I logged on. 5 minutes late, but I listened anyway.

I started listening and the first words out of his mouth were, "We all have regrets." Boom. Well let's just get right into it why don't we. He talked about how there are Sunday mornings that he didn't feel like he was 'on good terms' to lead worship. Or he wasn't strong enough to lead worship.

That's the way a lot of people are with their salvation. They want to make sure they are good enough to be saved. The beauty of that is that God wants us just as we are. Not the cleaned up, proper version of ourselves. He doesn't want us to try to get right before we ask for forgiveness. He wants you just as you are. I'm nowhere near good enough to accept His grace. It takes time and work to be Christlike.

I say Christlike because you will never be like Christ. We have free will and we screw up daily..... every hour.... probably multiple minutes in an hour.... or multiple times a minute. I can't tell you of probably 35 times that I've sinned since I woke up at 6AM. The beauty is that we aren't good enough. We aren't spotless enough. We aren't pure enough. BUT GOD DOESN'T CARE!!!

Chris Brown was saying that there were mornings where he didn't feel good enough to lead worship, but God started showing him something through that. Sometimes he wasn't in a good place to lead, but God's grace covers a multitude of sins. Last week I lead worship. I spent most of the practice time trying to make sure that there was perfection. That the key was right. That it sounded right. The mix was good. Presentation was running smoothly. I knew the words. I had the words in front of me. I looked at the words throughout the worship. UNTIL I got to my all-time favorite hymn.

Amazing Grace. Top of my list. There is a whole story about how things come full circle there. But I'll save you the reading. But when I started singing that, I didn't need the words.... to the first verse because I knew it. The song was tattooed on my heart. It had become a part of my story almost. I didn't care how loud I sang. I didn't care how many times I screwed up. It was not a concert style thing anymore, I was just singing. Like I do around the house.

I felt like it was more powerful. I was just as I was. At that moment I wasn't leading worship. I was Deborah Godbey singing in my living room. God doesn't want us to put up a front or live a double life. He wasn't us to be raw, honest, and as we are. I think there would be more authenticity in Christianity if we did everything like that.

Are you spending time being a double standard? Are you the same right now as you are when you are at work? Do you act differently around different people? The word that Chris brown used was return. Return to your first love. Return to just being yourself. Return, even though you have fallen short. Return, even if you have messed up BIG TIME. Return.