One of Us

Does anyone else remember the song "What If God Was One of Us?" It was popular back when I was in high school. I think I was a sophomore. Possibly a junior. I don't really remember. I just remember how much I loved it. I didn't listen to a lot of popular music back then, being the country girl I am. But Sis1 did. I first heard it while riding in her car on our way to somewhere and thinking, Gosh, this is a great song. I'm not sure what I liked about it. The melody, the sort of free floating vibe. Or maybe the fact that it made God sound cool. Either way, I really liked it.

One day in school a friend and I were talking music and I mentioned that song and how I liked it. This girl was one I admired mostly because she was pretty and popular and even though I know now that I had no business desiring any kind of lifestyle like hers, back then I didn't know any better. When I told her that I liked that song, she grimaced and scolded me, "You shouldn't like that song, Jana. It's disrespectful because God isn't one of us. That's why He's God."

I was crushed. She made me feel bad for liking that song. Made me question my faith and think that she somehow had a better understanding and a greater love for God than I did.

What I didn't have the spiritual maturity to know then was that she was full of crap. She had very little understanding of God--even less than I did. Because she was the one who was wrong.

God was one of us. Jesus, His son, was God in the flesh. Jesus wept like us. He hungered and thirsted. He laughed, he grieved, he was tempted--just like us. Jesus walked and talked among us, along side us. He lived and breathed and yet He was God.

So maybe the only fault with that song wasn't that God couldn't be or wasn't one of us, but that the songwriter failed to realize that the question it asked, "What if God was one of us?' had already been answered. God came to us in His son, Jesus. He came to us, suffered and died for us so that our sinful, imperfect souls could one day see Heaven. He came as the ultimate sacrifice. He came as our Savior and we crucified him. And one day, maybe sooner than we think, He's coming back for those who believe in Him and accept Him into our hearts and lives.

That's what happened when God was one of us.



If God had a name, what would it be (Jesus)



And would you call it to his face (I call on Him all the time.)


If you were faced with him in all his glory


What would you ask if you had just one question (I likely wouldn't have the abilty to speak, I'd be too busy worshipping.)






And yeah yeah God is great yeah yeah God is good


yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah






What if God was one of us (He was.)


Just a slob like one of us (He was a great teacher, a carpenter and  Savior of the world.)


Just a stranger on the bus (They didn't have busses back then, but he road donkeys...)


Trying to make his way home (He made His way home via the cross.)






If God had a face what would it look like (Glorious)


And would you want to see (Yes!! Though I doubt I'd have the courage to look at Him. I'm not worthy...)


If seeing meant that you would have to believe (I already do)


In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets (See, she already answered her own question. Jesus, sweetest name I know.)

I still like that song. At least she had the courage to ask. To seek answers even if the song was more for entertainment than any actual seeking of God's face. If it could get people talking about God, seeking answers to the questions it asked, then I guess it can't have been all that bad.

And I really pray my friend, the one from high school, one day finds those answers for herself.