I Am An Island You Are An Ocean

One of my favorite female singers is a singer called Svrcina. I really appreciate the depth of her lyrics, and of course, her angelic voice. Svrcina has a song called Island that particularly parallels a great truth in scripture. I want to attempt to bring a spiritual perspective to this great song and bring out the point of how Jesus reaches out to us as we reach out to Him. The first lyrics are as follows Almost so perfect The way that I want you

I'm almost deserving when I get close to you I disappear Lost in the waves I go under, under. In sharing Christ sometimes those I share Him with feel like they can never reach Him because of their past and their hope drowns in their doubt. When we match ourselves up with God Almighty it can be daunting when we realize the depth of our sinful condition and any kind of restoration is lost in the immensity of the gap between us and a Holy God.

This is where the love of God responds to the sin in my life. God has reached out of His great ocean of love and rescued me from the island of my sinful condition and given me a new dwelling place that is safe in His ocean of love. When we learn to trust God we realize that He will not let us drown, but allow us to thrive in this ocean that seemed to be impossible. Romans 5:6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Another lyric in the song is as follows see you out there I'm lost in the blue I'm part of the world but I cannot have you 'Cause I am deserted and you are too deep I cannot love you without losing me. Without Christ "we are lost" and with no hope, but God has reached out with His great love to save us from the island of ourselves. In a world with billions of people Jesus reaches out to you because He sees you and He knows you! Wow! Say that backward. Wow! Here is where our part kicks in and that is found in the word "surrender." Romans 10:9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. Faith is our part of this equation and God has given us something to realize and believe in.... Him.

I learned to swim when I was about six years old and the final thing that helped force me to learn to swim was being thrown in the water (with adult supervision) and forced to figure it out. I started dog paddling and then swimming. This effort was a very individual effort and I totally committed myself to it. When we are born again, we are born again as an individual and not as a group effort that we join. This is the failure of religion and also the strength of a personal relationship with Jesus. When we come to Him to receive the gift of eternal life He responds to our faith with complete forgiveness, or grace. Jesus gets us off the Island of ourselves and receives us into His ocean of love and forgiveness and His love is overwhelming yet accessible as Paul writes in Ephesians 3:18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Do you feel like you are on an island called yourself? If so, reach out to the very welcoming love of Jesus and He will rescue you with His awesome love. ISLAND NO MORE!! I highly recommend you listen to Svrcina and even though her music is featured more in the secular market her heart for Christ can easily be heard in her songs.

The Pilgrimage Continues

David Warren