SCRIPTURE:
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
PEACE
One of my favorite songs is “Someday Soon,” by Wilder Woods. I’m not sure if they are a Christian band but in their lyrics they talk about the Kingdom, about God, and other topics that make it seem that they are Christian.
Quick google search….brb
Turns out he is a Christian and use to be the lead singer of Needtobreathe. Don’t @ me! I didn’t know.
Anyways….Every time I hear that song it’s this lyric that always stands out to me
“No it ain’t worth all the worry, they’ll still let you in.”
- “Someday Soon” by Wilder Woods
He’s specifically talking about the Kingdom of God. I love that lyric and really resonate with it because when I first became a Christian I use to worry that my behavior would prevent me from entering heaven. That worry then turned into a worry that I won’t experience the Kingdom of God on earth, once I learned about the both/and theology. But then somewhere along the line I began to stop worrying about whether I was going to hell or not. That’s how I feel today.I’m not worried about where I will end up. Not because I gave up on pursuing holiness, more so because I gave up on shame. I gave up on trying to prove myself to God. I gave up on works righteousness and I gave up on worry. And I also gave up on what people think about me. Or at least I am trying to.
At the same time I have a clear conscience that I do my very best every single day to pursue holiness. I always know I can be doing a better job, but I don’t kick myself when I fail. I wake up to see another day, I make my apologies, and I realize that no one is perfect.
When Wilder Woods sang those lyrics it explained what my heart had been feeling for a while. It also explained the peace that Jesus Christ should be giving all of us. It’s a peace that lives in between grace and an awareness of cheap grace. It’s a place where we put our faith in the fact that Jesus has died for our sins and that there’s nothing we can do to be loved more by God.
I remember when I was in seminary one of my professors argued that there was in the verse in the Bible that we have been reading wrong all along. I believe it’s Ephesians 2:8 but I cannot be sure. It was such a long time ago. We have always been reading the verse as: “We have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ.”But this one professor believed that the Greek really says:“We have been saved by the faith of Christ.”
Which one is it? For me it’s both. That’s how I choose to live my life. And I pray that’s how you choose to live yours. A life knowing that God has overcome the world for you. God calls us to be overcomers but God also knows we are not perfect. That’s where grace comes in.
So….if you’re doing the best you can “”it ain’t worth all the worry, they’ll (prob) still let you in.” All you law abiding people… chill out. God loves you .And all you people who read this and see it as an excuse to go crazy, it’s not. It’s more of an opportunity to pursue God with less anxiety and more acknowledgment of God’s love and forgiveness.