Ruined Soul

Ruined Soul

Hear my cry Oh God
I am ruined by my sin
Every dark and vile thought
Is a glimpse of what’s within
and I’m powerless to change
without Your steadfast love
Your mercy is my strength
Only You can be enough

It’s the greatest story told
How you saved this ruined soul
Man & Maker now restored
So that every heart would finally be yours

What can I deny
My flesh that seeks it’s harm
Oh Lord please come and fight
This battle for my heart

No You couldn’t bear the pain
Of Your children in the dark
So You lifted all the weight
Sent Your son to light the spark

I surrender
I give in
Renovate me
Wash my sin
I relinquish
My control
Reinvent this
Ruined Soul

If God is light, then darkness is a good word to describe a place of being apart from him. But unlike a light switch, the sun rises and falls over time: 1 day. If you are like a child sustained by the light and allowed to run free while the sun is up, then you know well the sadness that comes with the dark. The freedoms are lifted: the risks increase, and the roaches and predators stretch their legs.

Now imagine a sun that never sets and its light shines before us. This is the wonderful imagery that John gives us in Revelation 21:23, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In this reality to-be, we are given hope against the darkness that still exists within. It is as we catch this ray of Jesus Christ, renovation of our dark and ruined soul begins. The tensions that exist because rest is not possible in the land of the dark begin to settle. Peace, love, and righteousness begin to come into to view.

This is the process of transformation that comes to us and waits for our invitation. It waits patiently for us to see the dark part of our self, sin, for what it really is: darkness in opposition to the light. True understanding comes to us, as we are able to say like Jeremiah, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9). As we see our ruined state, we are sharply convicted with the beauty and wholeness of God found in Jesus Christ, the Light of Man. What has been missing from our eyes is now seen; our inability to trust in God over ourselves (Romans 3:18). Don Simpson writes, “The blind pride of putting oneself at the center of the universe is the hinge upon which the entire world of the ruined self turns.” We must come to find a new paradigm for our faith to rest that exists in the light where there is no room for the destruction of our self.

Meet God… Jesus Christ: the one who is able to receive our darkness, absorbed by His Cross, that brings new life to all who will receive. It wont be forced as His love is led by freedom, never willing to cross you or manipulate you. It is the greatest story ever told. How we came to know and be known by God through the healing drama of the Son’s reliable pursuit. We now have freedom to run in the day again, our sadness now turned to perfect joy. For the sun no longer sets.

RUINED SOUL is the first track off of our new worship EP Novus. You can download it on ITunes now by searching for Axiom Worship.