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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

My Favorite Worship Song

Maybe the title of this post is a bit misleading. I guess it's more of, my favorite song that doubles as a secular love song and a killer worship song, if it fell under the license so we could sing it in church.

Yeah, I'm trying to be all about accuracy. I was reading John Welsey's questions on self-examination, and one was, "Do I exaggerate?" Instant conviction.

At any rate, "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis is an excellent worship song.

Because I am homeschool, and rarely listen to top 40 music, I had never heard this song until Student Life Missions Camp in 2008. The speaker there was a little irksome to me, but he won me over by the end of the week with his sincerity. [But, he was weird. Gotta say.] He mentioned how the worship band at his church thinks he's crazy, because he asked them to play "Bleeding Love" for Sunday worship. He said it's a literal, gut-wrenching picture of Jesus on the cross, that He just keeps on bleeding love.

Check out the lyrics:


Closed off from love, I didn’t need the pain

Once or twice was enough, and it was all in vain
Time starts to pass
Before you know it you’re frozen, oh
That's exactly how I am without Jesus. Frozen. Closed off. I exist in time, but I don't care that it passes, I don't care much about anything, none of it's worth it. Without Jesus, my heart is dull and I'm only going through the motions.

But something happened for the very first time with you
My heart melted to the ground, found something true
And everyone’s looking ‘round
Thinkin’ I’m going crazy, oh
One of my favorite verses of all time is John 6:68, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." He is the only truth on this earth, what else is there? I am in possession of so precious a truth. Craziness.

But I don’t care what they say, I’m in love with you
They try to pull me away, but they don’t know the truth
My heart’s crippled by the vein that I keep on closing
And how strange it must seem to those who don't have this truth, the world just doesn't make sense if we don't see it through God's truth. But every time I try and close off God's light from my life, I'm immobilized.

You cut me open and I -
Keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love
I keep bleeding, I keep, keep bleeding love
Keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love
You cut me open
In Vermont this past summer, during one of our group sessions, I remember hearing the hymn "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" and one line struck me so swiftly: "It was my sin that helf Him there until it was accomplished." That I caused His wounds, and further that He should choose to bleed for me . . . what kind of love is this?

Trying hard not to hear, but they talk so loud
Their piercing sounds fill my ears, try to fill me with doubt
Yet I know that the goal
Is to keep me from falling
Isn't it strange how doubt makes us stronger? It's so hard to struggle with what we know in our heads versus what we know in our hearts, but that the end we see far more clearly than when we started.

But nothing's greater than the rush that comes with your embrace
And in this world of loneliness, I see your face
Yet everyone around me
Thinks that I’m going crazy.
My parents tell me repeatedly that they will fail me, that my friends will fail me, that the church will fail me, that I cannot trust anyone on this earth like I can just Jesus. We are never alone so long as we seek His face. To see Him is euphoric.
And it’s draining all of me

Oh, they find it hard to believe
I’ll be wearing these scars
For everyone to see
Jesus is all of me, the only part that matters. Jesus died for me, and so I die to self so He can fill me. How can I live like He lived, and point others to Him with my life? Do they see Jesus in me?

He just keeps bleeding love.

2 comments:

Michael Au-Mullaney said...

I'm not going to pretend you aren't completely misinterpreting the song, and I'm pretty sure Jesse McCartney would agree with me, but this post is encouraging, and remind-ful nonetheless.

Hayley, your dedication to Christ is contagious.

Laura A. said...

Hayley..u rock mi face off! Ive never thought/ disected this song like that before! And also..ur blog is very bad! its sooo distracting :(