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BEHIND THE SONG WITH KEVIN DAVIS
#282 - "Kingdom Coming" by Christa Wells
What does it look like to live radically for Jesus in suburbia? This is the question driving Wells' latest song.
 


Known for her unusually poignant, poetic and honest songwriting, Indie-pop artist Christa Wells released her highly anticipated second solo album, How Emptiness Sings, one of my top 5 albums of 2011.

Christa has a vocal sincerity and creativity on par with Brooke Fraser, Audrey Assad, JJ Heller and Sara Groves, who are my top female vocalists of all-time. I am a believer and my testimony is that my love for music led me to Jesus Christ due to the Gospel messages of Christian music. This is a great album for your family and friends who don’t yet know Jesus. One of the many highlights is the song “Kingdom Coming,” with the challenging and moving bridge:“We are not free if we can’t give freely, If we live to have, we don’t have anything, Oh my heart, it’s good to bleed.”

Every time I hear that line in Christa’s compelling song, I am challenged to think about how well I’m loving people. She has a unique way of penetrating the soul one chord at a time. Note by note, word by word, each song unfolds like a mirror allowing the listener to see himself in places and circumstances he was previously blind to. She is, at the core, a believer in a relational God, and her songs echo that intimacy. As a listener to Christa’s music, one feels this kind of acceptance. Yet, the honesty of her lyrics refuses to coddle. They point upward and onward, away from self to a God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-worthy of praise.

I had the great opportunity to interview Christa about her great song “Kingdom Coming.” Here are her answers to my questions.

Please share the background message of the song "Kingdom Coming."

The song “Kingdom Coming” evolved as I was reading David Platt’s perspective-shattering book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Content-wise, this song was brewing along with agitation of my Spirit after I read that book and from reading the Compassion International bloggers Shaun Groves and Ann Voskamp.

Following the Haiti earthquake, I connected with missionaries who were moving there to be in community and to share God’s Word. I attribute God’s Spirit convicting me to write this song. I felt restless and agitated and felt this lack of congruity of the life of Jesus Christ and the quest for comfort that we tend to be immersed in by living in American culture. We all have been called to different lines of work, but I started praying about what does it mean in my life to reflect the compassion and love of Christ, both for spiritual and physical poverty and suffering.

If I’m not called to be a missionary in Africa, what does it mean for me? The song was born out of that tension and that struggle. I wrote the first verse right as I finished reading the book. It’s not all in what we do, though. Jesus Christ walked this earth for 33 years, and He didn’t heal and relieve the physical suffering of every single person He met. He always showed deep and authentic love and compassion to every one He met, and He always addressed people’s spiritual poverty.

The second verse is about me living in the suburbs, where I don’t see immediate suffering. I do see a lot of emptiness and spiritual poverty. All of this was in my mind and heart when I wrote this song. It was taking a lot of my mental and emotional space so I knew I wanted to write about it.

Please tell me about the Bible verses you used in writing the song.

Luke 9:13: “But He said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ And they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.’”

Luke 9:57-62: “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”

How can listeners apply that message when they listen to the song?

Honestly, I was tentative about this song, because I didn’t feel like I had any answers for me or anyone else. I didn’t want to come across like I was preaching at everybody else while I live in a comfortable house in the suburbs. I’m not telling anyone a 12-step plan to be more like Christ. I’m not telling anyone to imitate Christ as much as think about the fruit that is born in us when we draw closer to Him.

The more we love Him and recognize what we have been rescued from, the more naturally our lives become an outpouring of compassion and love for others. David Platt references that passage in Luke 9 in his book when he mentions that Jesus basically challenged people not to follow Him. Jesus reminded His followers that it was going to be hard to follow Him and they were going to suffer.

For me, that makes the message very relevant. Not only do we need to commit ourselves to fully follow Jesus, we need to die to ourselves and live for others the same way Jesus lived for other people. Are we willing to enter into the suffering of others? Are we willing to let their suffering affect us? In Luke 9:13, Jesus tells His disciples, “you give them something to eat.” That verse has torn me up over the years. We want to pray for people, but Jesus also tells us to do something for people in need. We can feel like we don’t have enough to give, but we’re called to be obedient with what we have. When they turned over the loaves and fishes to Jesus, He made it enough to feed the multitudes. That’s the point. We can’t provide enough, but Jesus can make it enough to provide what is needed for His Kingdom.

Lyrics:
Let’s shake the movers and move the shakers
Turn off the TV, start the coffee maker
Maybe a little obsession would be a good thing
It’s been awhile since we’ve gone into the night, yeah
We do some talking but we’re easily frightened
Back to the sofa with our vanilla pudding

Oh, oh, oh, oh
Is it time to lay our comfort down
Time to give until it hurts
Empty our cup into our brother’s hand
Is this the kingdom coming

We read the papers, but we cannot fathom
The poverty and violence that happens
And in our neighborhoods the wealthy are starving, too
We are surrounded by the underfed, so
Load our shoulders with some water and bread, Lord
Take us to the hungry, show us what Love can do

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
We are not free if we can’t give freely
If we live to have, we don’t have anything
Oh my heart, it’s good to bleed


Asbury’s Bible commentary: “The feeding of the five thousand illustrates Jesus' power over the forces of nature. There are other implications. The manner in which Jesus broke the bread suggests that this was a sacred meal that foreshadowed the Last Supper. Moreover, Jews expected a messianic feast in the kingdom of God: Jesus apparently understood both this occasion and the Last Supper itself as such a feast. This feeding miracle is also evidence of Jesus' compassion for men and women. Not all prospective followers of Jesus were aware of the nature of discipleship. He used harsh words to make the issue plain. They would be following a leader who spent nights without a place to sleep. Loyalty to Him must take priority over the burial of family. Indeed burying the dead was a task fit for the spiritually dead. It has been questioned whether Jesus intended His words to be taken literally. But He was certainly affirming the precedence of His right to obedience over all other claims.”

I recently finished reading David Platt’s best-selling book, Radical. In the last chapter of his book, Platt challenges readers to a radical one year experiment starting on page 183. Quoting Platt: “Throughout this book we have explored a variety of bold claims about our purpose in life that are contradicted by the American dream. Claims such as these: Real success is found in radical sacrifice. Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God. The purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. Meaning is found in community, not individualism; joy in found in generosity, not materialism; and truth is found in Christ, not universalism. Ultimately Jesus is a reward worth risking everything to know, experience and enjoy.” Amen to that!

One of my personal challenges for this New Year in 2012 is found in the chorus of this incredible song which is connected to Radical: “Is it time to lay our comfort down?, Time to give until it hurts?, Empty our cup into our brother’s hand, Is this the kingdom coming?”

As we start another year, I am challenged to commit to pray more fervently, study God’s Word more diligently and give more sacrificially. “Kingdom Coming” by Christa Wells is a great song that stirs my heart and increases my convictions to grow closer to God during my worship and devotional time. We all love our comforts, and this song challenges me to think more of others and to share Christ more than to focus on myself. The cost of discipleship is to make Him the Lord of our lives. Amen.

NRT Lead Contributor Kevin Davis is a longtime fan of Christian music, an avid music collector and credits the message of Christian music for leading him to Christ.

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