When I first heard this song during worship at The Eleven 22 Church in Jacksonville Florida, I welled up with emotion because I heard the words that described the effect my spiritual awakening had on my life. I know the Bible refers to it as being “Born Again”, but I prefer “spiritual awakening” because that better describes the process for me. I prefer “awakening” because God opened my heart and in doing so, He opened my eyes and my ears to His presence in my life. To be clear, when I say God, I am referring to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Upon first hearing this song by Josh Baldwin, I searched for it and found it here on YouTube. I encourage you to listen to it and I hope it moves you as it did me. It’s not just a song that describes my spiritual awakening, it describes the results of every Christian’s journey after being “born again”. No matter the details of each Christian’s story, our different experiences, and all the nuances that describe our individual testimonies; I believe they are all brought together in the lyrics of “Made for More”.

Here is what the lyrics mean to me,
and I hope you will share what they mean to you.

I know who I am ’cause I know who You are
The cross of salvation was only the start
Now I am chosen, free and forgiven
I have a future and it’s worth the living

As the lyrics of this song so eloquently state, we are chosen by Him, free from the darkness of this world and our sins forgiven. We are no longer sentenced to the death this world has to offer, but we have a future, an eternal future with God, certainly worth the living.

‘Cause I wasn’t made to be tending a grave
I was called by name
Born and raised back to life again
I was made for more

Since my “awakening” that lead to my studying the Bible; I look at cemeteries from a different perspective. They are a silent and stark reminder of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. Before their fall, there was no death in the world. Although everyone will experience a physical death, not everyone is meant to be “tending” a grave.

“Tending” is defined in Meriam Webster’s Dictionary as
“to move, direct, or develop one’s course in a particular direction”. 

Paraphrasing John Hart…
“this world is the closest to heaven non-believers will ever get;
and the closest to hell believers will ever get”.

Although all of mankind is headed for a physical death, those of us who are believers are looking forward to our eternal spiritual life in heaven. We are “called by name born and raised back to (an eternal) life again”. “I was made for more”; we were made for so much more than to live and die in the darkness of this world.

So why would I make a bed in my shame

Psalm 103:12 reminds us God not only forgives us our sins but He has also forgotten them. True believers do not continue to beat themselves up for past sins because we know we are forgiven. We do not live our lives with our heads down in shame. There is no looking back at our past or allowing the devil to remind us of our shortcomings; because Romans 8:1 reminds us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

When a fountain of grace is running my way

I know I am Yours

I did an internet search asking how many Christian denominations there are in the world and the answer was more than 45,000. In my humble opinion, Jesus did not come here to start a religion. He came here to offer salvation through HIs work on the cross and His resurrection. In fact, the movement to follow Jesus was originally called “The Way”. Early Christians used that term to distinguish themselves from Judaism. How did we get from “The Way” to over 45,000 Christian denominations is beyond my comprehension. When fellow Christians ask me if I am Protestant or Catholic or what Christian denomination I belong to, I respond…

I am none of those labels…
I am a man of God, I belong to Him and He is very fond of me.
I know I am His!

NOTE: It really annoys my younger and very competitive sister when I say God is very fond of me. She hears it as me saying, God is more fond of me than her. But truthfully, I am just acknowledging God’s love for me. God is love and He loves all of His creation and especially those He made in His image.

You called out my name

Unfortunately, not everyone hears God’s call. I believe God truly calls all of his children but too many have succumbed to the urgings of this world. If you are turned towards this world, you can’t be turned towards God. There are a lot of things competing for the attention of our hearts. For example, many people seek fame or fortune, and sometimes both. Who doesn’t “want” to be rich?

1 Timothy 6:10 states “For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil”.

This verse is one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Bible. Money is not the root of evil, it is just a tool. The “love” or desire of money is what traps us. Your heart can’t serve two masters. Those of us who heard His call, are so very thankful because we know our love for God trumps our love for everyone and everything, including money. We serve God, not material things and especially not money. Money is supposed to be a tool that serves us, not the other way around.

So I’ll sing out Your praise

Praising God is just another way to thank Him. One thing that differentiates true believers from so-so believers is how they pray. True believers are always thankful and they start their prayers with thankfulness for God’s graces and blessings. Think about it, if you were a parent of two children and your gifts to them were met with thankfulness from one and complaints from the other; which one would you be more likely to give more gifts to? There is a saying, enjoy His presence before you ask for His presents. But I don’t want to misrepresent prayer and thankfulness as a quid pro quo. Real believers are truly thankful, a genuine thankfulness that comes from the heart.

Hallelujah

You buried my past

Why is it so hard for Christians to believe that their sins are forgiven and forgotten? Are their sins bigger than God? The creator of the Universe tells us throughout scripture that our sins are “buried in the past”. Here are a couple of reminders:

• Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
• Hebrews 10:17 “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

And I’m not going back

Too many people revisit the sins they committed in their past life. If we believe God has truly forgiven us, then HE HAS FORGIVEN US! God does not give “partial” forgiveness. When Jesus said “Tetelestai” on the cross, He was saying “it is finished”. Did you know that during that period, “tetelestai” was written at the bottom of documents indicating a debt was paid in full? Our salvation was paid in full. Who benefits when we continue to agonize over our past sins? The prince of darkness does. He loves it, because we can’t be faced towards the light of God when we are looking backwards towards our sins and the darkness of the devil.

The apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:13 (NIV) about “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead”. In other words, don’t let the wounds of your past prevent you from reaching the prize ahead of you. We can’t be facing forward to God’s light if we are looking back over our shoulder.

God forgave us our sins which means He buried our past so we are not going back! – Amen

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