How Derek Webb Challenges Me To Be a Real Christian

In the last year, Derek Webb has really become one of my heroes. His lyrics have this way of showing me every way I am falling short, every hypocrisy in my life, and every place I am trading Jesus for convenience, and he does it in a way that doesn't exclude himself from guilt, so it never comes across as arrogant. I'd like to share some of his lyrics that have personally affected me.

"I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who I choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide"
- "This Too Shall Be Made Right"

"They'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
At anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
Who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare"
- "T-Shirts (What We Should Be Known For)"

"How can i kill the ones I'm supposed to love
My enemies are men like me...
Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
It's like telling someone murder is wrong
And then showing them by way of execution"
- "My Enemies Are Men Like Me"

"Could you love this bastard child?
No, I don't trust you to provide.
With one hand in a pot of gold
and the other in your side.
'Cause I am so easily satisfied.
With the call of a lover's soul as wild.
I would take a little cash
over your very flesh and blood."
- "Wedding Dress"

"I’ve got a killer instinct bringing out all of my best
I’ve got a poison conscience telling me to go with that
this may not work and I don’t guarantee that it will
but I’ve got no choice unless you tell me who Jesus would kill"
- "I For An I"

"You can render unto Caesar everything that’s his
You can trust in his power to come to your defense
It’s the way of the world, the way of the gun
It’s the trading of an evil for a lesser one"
- "A Savior on Capitol Hill"

"Here are two great lies that I've heard:
'The day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die,'
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class Republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him"
- "A King & A Kingdom"

"I repent, I repent of my pursuit of America's dream
I repent, I repent of living like I deserve anything
Of my house, my fence, my kids, my wife
In our suburb where we're safe and white...
And for the way I believe that I am living right
By trading sins for others that are easier to hide
I am wrong and of these things I repent"
- "I Repent"

"Poverty is so hard to see
hen it's only on your tv and twenty miles across town
Where we're all living so good
That we moved out of Jesus' neighborhood
Where he's hungry and not feeling so good
From going through our trash
He says, 'More than just your cash and coin
I want your time, I want your voice
I want the things you just can't give me"
- "Rich Young Ruler"

"Don't teach me about politics and government
Just tell me who to vote for
Don't teach me about truth and beauty
Just label my music
Don't teach me how to live like a free man
Just give me a new law...
Don't teach me about moderation and liberty
I prefer a shot of grape juice
Don't teach me about loving my enemies
Don't teach me how to listen to the Spirit
Just give me a new law"
- "A New Law"

"Are we defending life
When we just pick and choose
Lives acceptable to lose
And which ones to defend
'Cause you cannot choose your friends
But you choose your enemies
And what if they were one
One and the same"
- "Love Is Not Against the Law"