It's time to live, my friend

Jonah Werner is incredible. I stole some more of his muzac from Thom this weekend and I am just being moved repeatedly by the lyrics of this guy. He was my camp singer when I was on work crew and saw him again when visiting Thom at CCR. I have always been a sucker for a good song lyric... but this is uniquely sticking out for me today. Check it:

"And as prisoners, we wallow in the black of our bars; and in the clink of our chains we waste. And we cry out for mercy and we plead for a passage, incessantly pacing the cage. But this hole is too dark, and this chiasm’s too deep and we’ve no way out, so we cave... to the hemorrhaging stench of the life that we’ve spent, in the end for a feast in the grave. And we toast to addiction, and we drink to the thrill, and we talk about leaving (but we know we never will.) Have you heard the door open? Man, I’ve seen people leave. I’ve even heard voices calling, crying out for me. But it don’t matter, cause too far gone are the spoils of my shame, I say, so a voice is a voice just the same… most days. But not on this day. Because on this day there was a change: and it thundered and plundered the stones and it steals out the dust, embracing the rust, as I cling to the mud and the bones. And all of one brilliant siege all I once thought, believed, became dead and it immersed alive: and the bars were no more and the walls fell to the floor and the light marched down the inside. I don’t know about freedom or hope and I’m scared like the soul of a destitute slave who’s been set free but stands still right where he is. He says, “Can I just leave? Can I just walk away?” I say, “Run away, man.” I say, “Run away, man – from your feast in the grave.”

Its time to live, my friend. Its time to live."

How incredibly true does this ring for you? I think so often I am SO STUCK in my sin and in the bondage it creates for me, that I can't see my freedom (in Christ) staring me in the face. And I so often feel just exactly like the slave - I know I'm free but I just don't know what to do. Rather, I know I CAN be free, but I think, "too far gone are the spoils of my shame." In those moments I forget about Jesus - I forget about the stones that have been thundered and plundered, I forget that God embraces the rust... even mine. To hear the words, after listening to this crazily intense portion of song, "It's time to live, my friend," just brought tears to my eyes. Sometimes I am baffled by how long it takes me (dare I say us?) to get this stuff. I've been a "Christian" for... well, a long time - and I still have a hard time internalizing God's call to just live. To run away from my sin and from the things that hold me, captive, and live. 

"Can I just leave? Can I just walk away?"

"Run away, man. Run away."