She Must And Shall Go Free Part VIII: Saint & Sinner

"Saint & Sinner" by Derek Webb from the album She Must and Shall Go Free

If you want my glory you gotta take my sin
If you want my future you gotta take my skin
If you want my heart you gotta take my blood
If you want my bed you gotta take my lust

‘cause I’m not a half a man
I’m not a half a man
Lord knows I love you now
But a saint and a sinner is what I am

If you want my spirit you gotta take my booze
If you want my mystery you gotta take my clues
If you want my child you gotta take my kin
If you want my money you gotta take my rent

And it doesn’t get better once you see the light
You wake to find that the fight has just begun
I used to be a mess but now I look just fine
‘cause you dressed me up and we drank the finest wine.

The church is supposed to be full of redeemed people living differently than before they knew Christ. Unfortunately most if not all of the church is compartmentalizing their actions in one way or another, holding back certain actions and attitudes from the exhortation of 1 Peter 1:13-16, "Be holy for I am holy."

Ephesians 4:17-24 reminds us that we have been made new in Christ. We are new creatures. The old life is supposed to be gone and the new is supposed to be what we daily put on and demonstrate with our lives...every area of our lives. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 describe what this old life may have looked like for you. But then verse 11 reminds us that we USED to be that, but that we have been redeemed.

It is a problem that we do not perfectly put off the old self and put on the new self every day, but an even bigger problem is how little of the church even TRIES to fully put off the old self. We know we are wearing the old self and we are content with the dirty rags. We think, "It's too hard to give this up." This song expresses a desire for God to take those "old self" things that are continuing to cling to the royal robes God has dressed us in through the blood of Christ. This song expresses a desire to FIGHT!

Are you daily accessorizing the gloriously new and royal robes that God has dressed you in with the dirty, stained and ugly clothes of a pauper?

Spend time asking the Spirit to reveal to you the areas in your life that you are compartmentalizing, not allowing God to replace the old with the new. Then FIGHT for the new self, every minute of every day, until the old looks so old, nasty and dirty that you do not want to have anything to do with it.