A handful of months ago i had the privilege of playing a concert with Big Daddy Weave in Ft. Meyers, Florida. The concert went well and hanging with mike weaver and the gang was such a pleasure; honestly some of the best, God fearing men I've met in the music industry, not to mention incredible musicians. Though the evening was quite a treat, the catalyst for this blog came from what happened the day before. Grace Church had brought me out to Ft. Meyers a day early to give my testimony at a Celebrate Recovery (CR) meeting at their church. In case you aren't aware, CR is an ministry of sorts that serves as a help to anyone with hurts, habits or hang-ups, and does this by the power of Jesus' healing and cleansing work in their life. Think of it like AA with the Holy Spirit. Anyone can come for help and healing, and i mean anyone. This particular church has one of the largest CRs in the state of Florida, averaging somewhere between 300-400 people attending their weekly friday night meetings.

I want you to get the picture: we're talking 400 alcoholic, cocaine addicted, meth addicted, abusive winos hanging out together every friday night. No offense to them, but this is the reality.

The group had asked me to come and share my testimony with them and also play a song. Before i got on stage, they began with a time of worship. Thats when it happened:

There I was, surrounded by former crack heads and hardened bikers, covered head to toe in tattoos. I had no idea what was about to happen. Then they began to sing. I submit to you that I had never heard as sweet a sound as when these men and women lifted up their voices to the Great Savior. Grown men were calling out to Jesus with joyful shouts; women were putting their arms around one another as they lifted their melodies to Heaven. Tired old songs of God's amazing love and forgiveness came alive with such genuine sincerity, that I literally began to weep. It was not because these people were excellent singers by any means. In fact, it sounded a whole lot more like shouting and hollering than it did music. The beauty of it was not found in their voices, but in their earnestness. God in his tenderness was speaking to me something very simple, yet very profound: He who is forgiven much, loves much.

In that moment, God brought to mind Luke 7:36-50. Jesus was invited to a Pharisee's home for dinner. While He was reclining at the table with him, a woman from the city who was "a sinner" entered the house, and began covering His feet with her perfume, and as she wept her tears were also landing on His feet, so she wiped them clean with her hair.

The Pharisee, being disgusted with this said to himself, "if this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner." Jesus, discerning the thoughts of his heart rebuked him with the parable of the 2 men who were graciously forgiven 2 different amounts of money from their debtor. Jesus asked the Pharisee which of the 2 men will love their former debtor more. He answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." Jesus used this parable to show Simon the Pharisee this simple truth: He who is forgiven much loves much. The woman at His feet was keenly aware of her sinfulness, and recognizing Jesus as her only hope of forgiveness, she flung herself at the feet of Christ, a broken and grateful display of repentance and faithfulness.

That evening at Celebrate Recovery, the LORD was showing me what it is that stirs up genuine worship and real love for God, namely, an awareness of our sinfulness before a Holy God, coupled with an even greater awareness of His great forgiveness for our sins. I felt in that worship time like the Father was speaking tenderly to my heart, saying "Do you see? Do you see? these are the people that i want. They get it."

This begs the question, based on my observations from playing at many churches over the years, why is so much of our worship in America lacking that passion and love that i witnessed with these recovering addicts? Why are so many of us seemingly disinterested in God? Is it because we haven't been forgiven much by God? Of course not! The unsaved human condition is so wicked I don't even have enough words to scratch its surface. We are nothing but selfish, prideful, insolent, foul, lustful God haters. Don't believe me? Read Ephesians 2:1-3, Titus 3:3, 2 Timothy 3:1-7, all of the book of Judges, and, for that matter, just read the whole Bible. So what's the problem then? I believe it is the simple fact that we are not aware of just how much we have been forgiven. We have gotten over our salvation, and because of that the grace of God has grown dull as our own self worth has been elevated. Let me tell you something: One of the healthiest things you could ever do for yourself is meditate on who you were before Christ. Begin to wrap your mind around the fact that the God of the Universe had every right to smoke you for your wickedness before Him, and yet, in His great mercy, He spared you and chose you for an inheritance.

Please, don't let yourself become the Pharisee from Luke 7. He couldn't and wouldn't worship Jesus because he believed that he didn't need the forgiveness of God. Be the weeping woman at His feet, broken, repentant, and grateful to a God who would rescue her from the pit of destruction and call her friend. Let the good news of the salvation story soak into your bones and change you again. Agree with David as he called out to God in Psalm 51:12, saying, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation..."

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:8-9

"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God."
1 Corinthians 1:26:29

"3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
Titus 3:3-7