http://www.myspace.com/derekwebb  

Depravity…Our status from birth. We are born sinners seperated from God. While this may seem harsh, it is the TRUTH. We are born in need of a Savior. Yes, even my handsome “perfect” six-week-old son is a sinner separated from God. A fact which drives me to pray constantly for the day of his salvation. 

So why do you and I tend to view ourselves as “good”? We are all artists in the genre of comparison. I find that I view myself as “good” when I place myself on the plane of the world.  I constantly find myself comparing my “goodness” to that of other men and women. I view the worldly lifestyles others and place them in the basement of “The Bad”, and place myself on the pedestal of “The Good”. The art of comparison is a dangerous playing field for the mind. Comparing ourselves with others, gives us an utterly false view of ourselves. It causes us to think we are worthy and deserving, when we are not. The only comparison that gives us an honest view of ourselves is that of Jesus Christ. 

Christ is our standard. Compared with Jesus Christ, who is pure and holy, you and I are marred, tainted, and broken. We are whores, murderers, vandals, and crooks. Everyone of us are spotted, stained, and unworthy of the presence of  Holy God. We are SINNERS. No one of us better than the other. All of us depraved of the presence of Almighty God because of the stain of our sins. All of us in need of saving from our own imperfect nature.   

We need God to rescue us, because we need the presence of God. God is Good. God is Truth. God is Life. Without His presence in our lives we lack goodness, truth, and life. We need God.  Without Him we are hopeless. Without Him we are eternally dead. 

Thankfully God is loving, graceful, and merciful. Thankfully, He desires for us to know Him. Because of this, He provided the way for us to be saved from our human condition. God has extended His mighty hand to us in the form of Jesus Christ. He is our Rescuer. He has not ridden up on a pure white steed. No, He hung on a cross. He bled. He died. He rose again, and now sits at God’s right hand waiting for us to accept the gift His sacrifice afforded each one of us. The shedding of Christ’s blood, allows you and I to adorn ourselves in His purity. God has offered you and I a wedding dress to wear instead of our stained rags, so that we may enter into His kingdom. So we can sit with the King. So we can conversate with the Creator. So we can be wrapped up in the arms of the Father. 

May we all abandon ourselves and cling to Christ. May we cease to compare and instead have compassion on those who have not accepted the cloak of Christ. May we humble ourselves and recognize our constant need for a Savior. May we deny ourselves and follow Christ. May we remain thankful for the hope we have in knowing we will spend an eternity with the God in heaven, if we have accepted his gift. May we never forget the cost of our wedding dress. 

Wedding Dress
by: Derek Webb

If you could love me as a wife
and for my wedding gift, your life
Should that be all Id ever need
or is there more Im looking for

and should I read between the lines
and look for blessings in disguise
To make me handsome, rich, and wise
Is that really what you want

I am a whore I do confess
But I put you on just like a wedding dress
and I run down the aisle
and I run down the aisle
Im a prodigal with no way home
but I put you on just like a ring of gold
and I run down the aisle to you

So could you love this bastard child
Though I dont trust you to provide
With one hand in a pot of gold
and with the other in your side

I am so easily satisfied
by the call of lovers so less wild
That I would take a little cash
Over your very flesh and blood

I am a whore I do confess
But I put you on just like a wedding dress
and I run down the aisle
and I run down the aisle
Im a prodigal with no way home
but I put you on just like a ring of gold
and I run down the aisle to you

Because money cannot buy
a husbands jealous eye
When you have knowingly deceived his wife