Take all of your wasted honor,
Every little past frustration,
Take all of your so-called problems,
Better put ‘em in quotations.

Say what you need to say.

Walking like a one man army.
Fighting with the shadows in your head.
Living out the same old moment.
Knowing you’d be better off instead,
If you only could . . .

Say what you need to say.

Have no fear for giving in.
Have no fear for giving over.
You’d better know that in the end.
Its better to say too much,
Then never say what you need to say again.

Even if your hands are shaking,
And your faith is broken.
Even as the eyes are closing,
Do it with a heart wide open.

Say what you need to say.

These are the words from a John Mayer song called (as if you couldn’t guess) Say. It was also the closing song/video from the movie The Bucket List.

Go ahead…watch the Bucket List and tell me it didn’t make you cry. Even if you’re a mucho macho male full of manly manliness… you’ll still tear up. But you can tell people you had something in your eye.

Unless…you say what you need to say. That’s why I like this song so much.  Are you getting the same vibe from Say that I am? To me, it sounds like Mayer is encouraging people to be honest. Not mean or immature, but if you have something bottled up that needs to get out – let it out!

Do you need to stop acting like a ‘one man army’? Are you ‘living out the same old moment’? I have some great news for you…John Mayer is spot on – because when you say what you need to say, you feel as free as a bird. Let me share my journey of saying what I needed to say:

When I was in 10th grade, I realized I needed to say something to God. I was at a summer camp, and the ’speaker guy’ shared two amazing Truths from the Bible:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16).

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. (John 3:16-18).

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It was seriously like a light that switched on in my head. I needed to say something to God – and it went like this:

“Jesus- you came into the world to save people, and I need saving. I believe in You and trust in You as my only hope of salvation. I believe that I am saved by grace alone, and I receive the free gift of salvation.”

Yep – when I said that to God – I found a whole new life that has been nothing short of amazing.

One more thing – there are opportunities every day to say what you need to say. Be honest with God about how you are feeling, what you desire, and when you need to confess your sins. Then you can say what you need to say to others – like:

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

I love you.

I believe in you.

I need you.

God loves you.

Jesus died for you and for me.

When you say these things to others, life takes on shades of freedom and peace you probably have never seen or felt.

The last thing I need to say is this:

Don’t just read this post…act on it. Before you go to bed tonight, tell your parents you love them. Make things right with God and others. Tell a total stranger hello. Say ‘please’ and ‘thanks’, and don’t hold back your honesty – because:

Even if your hands are shaking,
And your faith is broken.
Even as the eyes are closing,
Do it with a heart wide open.

Say what you need to say.

No seriously, would Jesus play The Beatles: Rock Band?

Tell me this question gets you thinking, or at least pondering this concept.  As you know, this video game has taken the world by storm, outsold Guitar Hero 5, and thousands, if not millions, of teens are being introduced to the Beatles magic that stormed the world the first time nearly 50 years ago!

To recap, 4 mop-topped lads from Liverpool, England, put a little garage band together and within a few years, were the first group in history to play in sold-out stadiums around the world.  John, Paul, George and Ringo became household names and to this day, we can see the continued ripple effects from the incredible splash The Beatles made when your parents were infants.

Yes, I think Jesus would play The Beatles: Rock Band and here’s why:

There was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”

“Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold 20-30 gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.

When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over.  “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in Him (John 2:1-11, NLT).

This was the first miracle Jesus performed and it revolved around keeping the party going. How?  Well, wine in that day was symbolic of joy and celebration and if the groom’s after-wedding party ran dry, it was a serious offense – in fact the people could have had him arrested!  Notice that Jesus not only attended the party, but He made sure the joy and celebration continued – which tells us several critical things about God’s one and only Son.

First, it is obvious that Jesus loves to connect with people.  When He wasn’t preaching or teaching, He was hanging out at social events that seriously offended the stuffy stuck up religious folks.  They weren’t mad because He went to parties; they were ticked because He had such a great time at them! Can’t you see Jesus and the disciples laughing it up over a video game if they had a 1st Century xBox?  I sure can…only the lyrics then would have been “God loves you, yeah yeah yeah.”

You know what else? This account shows us that the reason Jesus went to parties and hung out with “sinners” was not to judge or condemn them – in fact, it was just the opposite.  Jesus got involved in people’s lives so He could let them know there is a way to find true and lasting joy and celebration that isn’t found in a bed or a bottle.  This kind is guilt- and consequence-free, and the freedom it brings turns the bitter waters of life into a spiritual wine that never runs out.

And guess what? Jesus offers the same miracle to us!

He can he turn depression into joy…

He can turn fear into hope…

He can turn emptiness into contentment…

He can turn sin into grace…

Most importantly, He can turn death into life.

The Beatles brought a feeling of happiness and enjoyment to a world in need of an escape from the turbulent 1960s, but I’ve got a feeling you too would like to say hello goodbye to yesterday and get back to feeling fine.  The same Jesus who turned water to wine can quench your spiritual thirst and bring joy and freedom that no rock band has ever known.  Trust Him for salvation and don’t keep the good news to yourself.  You have friends that need more than just a little help – they need the true message of salvation.

Here comes the Son!

No doubt about it – Slumdog Millionaire is a film that people have taken notice of. As the winner of 4 Golden Globe awards and nominee of 10 Academy awards, it has caused mixed feelings across the globe – folks seem to either love it or hate it.

I guess the love comes from the ‘rags to riches’ storyline that intrigues all of us who occasionally daydream about getting on a game show like Who Wants to be a Millionaire and making enough serious bank to never worry about finances again.

Or perhaps the semi-worship of Slumdog lies in the ‘boy finds girl at all costs’ sort of thing. After all, doesn’t every guy want to rescue a lady in distress? Isn’t there a desire to be valued and liberated in the heart of every woman?

So yeah, cool plot line, action, adventure, romance – and (in my mind) perhaps a more deserving winner than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a.k.a. ‘Forrest Gramps.’

Then there are the haters of Slumdog Millionaire. Why? Well it really isn’t a film thing, plot thing, or even an acting thing.

It’s a religious thing. Slumdog apparently portrays Hindus and Muslims in a ‘negative’ light. There are scenes of religious riots in the slums of India where people are killed in the name of a conviction… and it appears that this doesn’t settle well on either side of the ‘my god can beat up your god’ conflict that rages all over the planet even as you are reading this.

I have a friend who tells me all the time that the world would be better off without religion. That the bad parts of religion outweigh the good and it is simply a power play for the powerful to control the weak.

And I agree. Religion wars are the shame of planet earth and religion is simply mankind’s unsuccessful attempt to earn back a right relationship with the Creator God of the Universe.

That’s why Jesus Christ was so harsh with the religious people of His time. Check out His view of the folks who used the name of God to chase their own agenda:

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hellyou yourselves are!

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,but you ignore the more important aspects of the law – justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs -beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

“Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” (Matthew 23:13-15;23-24;27-28;33).

What do you think? Picking up Jesus’ disgust with religious hypocrisy? Which is exactly why Jesus came to earth to fulfill the most difficult truth in the universe: one must be perfect to enter heaven.

Not religious, not good, not even a decent person. God’s standard is perfection, which is why our attempt to reconcile with God through religion will never work.

But here is the best part. Jesus lived a perfect life to earn a way for us to go to heaven. He paid the ultimate price on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead to prove to the world that He is God. All we need to do is trust in the Person of Jesus Christ to take us to heaven on His merit and not ours.

In other words, Biblical Christianity is all about a relationship, not a religion. I know we get lumped in with all the religions of the world but hopefully you now know that every other faith belief is about ‘doing’ – do this, do that, and you *might* make it to heaven. Christianity is all about ‘done’- Jesus has already paid it all and all people on earth can obtain eternal life simply by trusting in Him for salvation.

In a way, Christianity is just like Slumdog Millionaire. Jamal could have worked his whole life and never earned a million dollars but because he had the right knowledge and acted on it, he received the reward as a gift.

God wants you to go from spiritual rags to riches. Put your faith in Christ for salvation, and you’ll never know spiritual poverty again!