Flyleaf: All Around Me

I love this song because it is all about worshipping God as a new creation. That's what resounds in me when I hear the lyrics "I'm alive, I'm alive!" This song really captures the passion that should fill a person when they are caught up in full on worship to the one and only living God. But sadly, the way "religion" is structured today conveys the message that worship should be contained, even passive. It's funny I really don't see that in the Bible. When I read about Jesus' life, He was/is a man of passionate worship and He made disciples who were so passionate about following Him that they died for the Faith. Where is that kind of passion today?

When I read in the book of Revelation about worship around the throne of God in Heaven. Again, I don't get the sense that people will be sitting around passively singing songs and reciting Scripture passages. No, I think it'll resemble something a lot like this video. People will be jumping and dancing and screaming and singing on the top of their lungs about how holy, worthy and awesome God is and much they love Him. I don't see it as being passive or contained. I believe what has happened is that instead of redirecting people's passion from themselves and the world to God and His Kingdom, the institutional church in fear has squashed and stifled people's passion. So, instead of giving life, the institutional church has diminished life.

Now, hear me on this - I love the Church, after all it is the very Bride of Christ of which I am a part. The reason I say these things is that I believe Jesus is the most passionate Lover to have ever walked this earth and He desires His Bride to be just as passionate. He died so that we could live amazingly vibrant and passionate lives that celebrate the reality that we are His chosen Beloved. There came a point in my life when this truth finally sunk deep into my heart and I have been undone since with a wild, passionate, even furious love for Jesus. The passion that I was told to deny, Jesus has breathed new life into and has redeemed for His Kingdom. What I've come to realize is that: it's not about denying or letting go of my passion, but about letting the love of God and my love for Him fuel and redirect my passion. "This fire rising through my being, burning..."