When you touch my life
I’ve been born again
The curtain’s been torn again
Yeah, you touch my life
-Touch, Delirious?
The compartmentalization of the actual presence of God was destroyed when Christ died on the cross and the veil was torn, but yet when we relegate our “Christian” (meaning ‘little Christ’; Christ-like) lives to a Sunday morning service at church, if that often, it is as though we attempt to place God back in that point in history when only the high priest could enter his actual presence behind the temple curtain, and we enclose Him yet again in that place, that compartment, that we don’t attempt to come near outside of church services. The Delirious? song reminds us that when we are born again, when God reaches out and touches our lives, the curtain is torn…again. That little word “again” weighed heavily on me as I listened to this song for the first time in a few years. Why would they write this into a song? Why would they reference a huge event in the history of Christianity as happening more than the one time when Jesus was crucified? I believe it is because it is the habit of the present day church of treating its “faith” as though the Holy of Holies is where God’s presence still dwells. We live a life that is seemingly “too busy” during the week to take God out of the “Holy of Holies” of our hearts and allow him to invade other areas of our lives like our businesses, offices, cars, friendships, daily routines, or even our minds. We think, probably in large part due to society and mass media that God need be relegated to a day or two during the week, but not our daily lives. It is as though we have been brainwashed by the world to think God’s place is in a box, or room, in church and is offensive to others if He is removed from there. The truth be known, the Gospel is offensive, it is the word of a perfect God giving beautifully perfect teaching to a flawed and extremely imperfect people. It is offensive to be told that what the flesh craves is contrary to God’s desires for our lives…but only at first.
It is a strange thing that happens when we allow God to touch our lives, to tear the curtain we’ve confined Him to and make the practice of faithful service a common thing in our lives. The offensive nature of Biblical teaching diminishes proportionately to the amount of our lives we fully surrender to service in the Body of Christ. As we allow Him entrance to previously hidden areas and allow Him to shape those areas, they become more Christ-like, and the part of the Gospel dealing with that area of our lives is no longer offensive.
You see, when we quit repairing or replacing the curtain, we no longer need the curtain “torn again.” We no longer force God to break out of our preconceived notions of who He is and where he belongs, we can move forward and not have these experiences that are nearly as evident as the first time we believed or were “born again.” Delirious? seems to liken being touched by God as a whole new experience not unlike being born again.
One might argue that each new day should be a death-to-self-born-in-Christ experience, and that message is presented in the song as well, but I think there is a deeper message conveyed in lyrics like: “please deliver me from walking beyond the truth that called me here, I’m not ashamed today.” To me this is a confession, a plea, a cry for help to God to remove a habit of leaving the original teachings of Christ that called us to him in the first place and replace it with a passionate pursuit of staying in the presence of God, unashamed to confess ones own failure and ask God to make strong the weaknesses.
So, with that said, let us run after God’s presence, let us allow him to, one final time, tear the curtain down we have replaced or repaired, and let us allow God out of the tight quarters of a Sunday morning church service and into all the areas of our lives that the “curtains” previously restricted. God, touch our lives, remind us of when we were born again, and tear the curtain one last time again, we’re not ashamed today!
