Jump Start

I went to my first country music concert last Friday in College Station, and although I am not a fan of country music, the opening act Brian Burke played a song that I just cannot get out of my head for more than a few hours. The song was called Jump Start and it tells the story of someone "looking for a way to jump start [their] heart." The subject turns to lusts and a one night stand to "jump start [his] heart".




The opening line says "I feel like everyone is running around in the dark, looking for a way to jump start their heart" and continues with "You're all out looking for somebody, somebody you can trust... [to] put it back together before it falls apart, looking for a way to jump start your heart."

The song really is a cry of my generation and it breaks my heart every time I hear it. The character in this song is looking for purpose and fulfillment. He wants something to bring him happiness and hope. He needs that jump start to keep him running as long as possible. But he's looking in all the wrong places. The solution to how to mend the brokenness inside of him and us can't be a jolt of excitement or passion that starts our faulty hearts for a little bit longer. The problem with a bad battery won't be solved by giving it more juice, because batteries have a lifespan than is fairly definite. No matter how many times you charge it, it's still going to die.

The answer to a life that keeps running out of drive, to a heart that continues to lose passion, and a soul that can't seem to find sustenance isn't a jump start. We need a new heart. The message of our generation seems to be along the lines of "You can do it!" and "Don't let anyone judge you." That has created a self-sustaining culture in young people that refuses to let other people inside of our guards and trust people. We are terrified with the prospect of being emotional/spiritually naked in front of people so we try and fix ourselves as best we can.

Jesus didn't come to jump start our broken lives. He wasn't a miracle worker for the entertainment value.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.-Ez. 36:26

That's the prophecy that Jesus came to fulfill. Hearing a song like this that proclaims how broken our world is and should usher in a desire for us as believers to make His Name famous. If we have the answer to what the majority of the world around us is searching for, why wouldn't we share it? Lecrae's song "Take Me as I Am" off of his debut album Real Talk addresses our response to our brokenness so well. The chorus goes like this;

Will you take me as I am? I know the way I'm living is wrong, But I can't change on my own, trying to make it alone. I wonder, how could you love me when my life is so ugly? But you came down and died for me. Will you take me as I am?

The answer to your woe and trouble is not a do-it-yourself book. We weren't made to fix ourselves. We need a savior. Enter Jesus. The perfect God-man who bore the punishment that was due us on Himself through His sacrifice on the cross. As He hung He declared in a loud voice "It is finished!" signifying that the penalty for our sins had been payed and that there was no longer a division between God and man. He himself had come to us and restored what was broken. Through this act we have been reconciled with God and afforded the opportunity to each be called a new creation. No longer are we abandoned to darkness, but we have been drawn into the perfect light and love which casts out all darkness and fear. There is no longer any need for a jump start because we have been transformed.

-matt