Worlds Apart

This has long been one of my favorite songs. Again, it’s Jars of Clay, from the self-title debut album. I love to play and sing
it. I think it is another perfect description of how my life is. I’m
completely unworthy of God’s love, if only because I feel that I’m the
one driving the most nails into the cross. It’s like I need God to completely tear
my world apart in order for me to be put back together again. Here are
the words to the song.

I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all adds up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride, I flew too high
And like Icarus, I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
To give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
More deeply than the ocean
More abundant than the tears
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow

To love you – take my world apart
To need you – I am on my knees
To love you – take my world apart
To need you – broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of live I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me
All I am for all you are because what I need and what I believe
Are worlds apart

I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
Wipe away the crimson stains
Dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need you now
I owe you more each passing hour
The battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
Wash the feet and cleanse my pride
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
The sin-soaked heart and make it yours
Take my world apart
Take it now, take it now
And serve the ones that I despise
Speak the words I can’t deny
Watch the world I used to love
Fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
So wipe away the crimson stains
Dull the nails that still remain
So steal my heart and take the pain
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
Take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
Take my world apart
Worlds apart

Wow, that was a long one. The entire last section is sung
(sang?) like a run-on phrase. It sounds progressively more desperate
through to the end, almost as if the person is coming to the end of
their rope.

Something else about the song I love is the imagery. The first verse
has the lines “Soaring on the wings of selfish pride, I flew too
high/And like Icarus, I collide” Unless someone knows the Greek story
of Icarus,
then they won’t understand the image being portrayed. Another line
repeated twice in the last verse is “I look beyond the empty
cross/forgetting what my life has cost.” I think that this is something
so easy for us to do in our society today. We find it so simple to just
look past what Jesus has done and we don’t realize the price paid for
our sin.

Like I said before, I love to play and sing this song. It’s a cry out for help and really strikes home with me. Hubris
and self-reliance are big problems of mine and it’s like I’m wanting
God to roll back the eastern sky for me to listen to Him. I’m trying to
change that, but it’s hard to do.

Hey, guess what? That’s two in a series now. Maybe this means I’ll get
my Take a Stand idea out of mothballs and try it out again. Heh, don’t
bet on it just now.