Today I'm going to look into in my humble opinion, one of the best songs I've ever written (at least part of that statement is true) and definitely the best recording I've ever done, because it involved copious amounts of electric guitar. I'll be spitting the lyrics for you in a second here, but first, a word on the title: I was stuck between calling the song "What I Was Once," and "I Was Once," and so in the interest of placing as much unnecessary punctuation as possible in my titles I decided to jam both of those titles together and put a word in parentheses, which turned out to look very artsy and upped the song's "cool factor." So basically, what I'm saying is that the title was divinely inspired...
Here are the lyrics:
(What) I Was Once - Justin Samuel Manry
I was once a liar, I was once a thief,
I was once foolish, I was once deceived,
I was once chasin' my lusts and my pleasures and all the world had,
I was once hateful and hatin' and bitter and envious and mad,
I was once selfish, Life was all about me,
I was once a murderer, I had blood on my hands,
I was disobedient, I thought it was grand,
I was once givin' in to every vice I could find under the sun,
I was once livin' in rebellion and laughin' oh I thought it was fun,
I was once enslaved, but I've been set free...
(Chorus)
But when the love of God came down,
He changed my life around,
He saved me from my sin not by my works but in Him,
And then His Holy Spirit poured upon me,
Love, joy, peace, and more, oh how He,
Washed away the stain and the pain and the shame,
Of what I was once!
I was once judgmental, But had a plank in my eye,
I was once a bigot, So caught up in my pride,
I was once lookin' down upon sinners, despising their shame,
I was a Pharisee self-righteously forgetting from where I came,
I was once haughty, but God taught humility...
(Repeat Chorus)
Meekness, doesn't equal weakness,
It gives compassion for the lost,
Havin' sympathy, doesn't mean that I agree with sin,
It just means I understand 'cause I know...
What I was once!
Explanation!
So one of my favorite scripture passages of all time comes from Titus 3, when Paul is encouraging Titus to remind his church of the not-too-popular message of "being subject to rulers and authorities" and "showing humility towards all men." This message is generally summed up in the word "meekness," not that we are weak or pushovers or lame-wads who have no spine, but that we respect others and put them above ourselves, their needs above our needs, and don't just be rebellious for rebellion's sake. But the main point of the song I take from the rest of the passage, which shows us the reason WHY we can have this sort of humility, because we were all at one time just like them: liars, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. I was once all of those things. I can say "I was once a murderer," not because I have actually been an assassin for hire at any point in my life, but because Jesus said that whoever is angry with his brother is already guilty enough to be called a murderer. I know what my own sin is like, and if we're honest with ourselves, we all know what our own weaknesses and sins look like, and how we are desperately wicked and lost.
But then comes the good news! "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, He saved us..." He didn't leave us like we were! He didn't let me stay what I was once. He changed me. He sanctified me. He washed me clean. And that is the realization that makes me want to tell others. That's the thing that makes me say, "I will go and spread Your word wherever You tell me to, because I was once like all the lost people in all the world, and You were able to change my life around."
That's what meekness leads to. It's not about backing down and being a sniveling snarly snoot, it's about realizing that we live in a world full of sinners, but they aren't any worse than we used to be, and so authorities should be obeyed, and all people should be respected, and all of this should lead to compassion and love for all those who are lost.
Video Time!
Below is a grainy, old webcam video of Jason and I singing this beloved song. IMPORTANT NOTE: we were both growing terrible mustaches at the time, which I take full responsibility for, it was all my idea.... Enjoy!
This comes from our album, Quite Plainly, and hopefully I can embed it, if not, just follow this link.
So it didn't work, so you can click on the link or this one to SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/justin-samuel-manry
"Singing" off,
Justin Samuel Manry
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