Fans of contemporary Christian music and the hit song, "Turn Around" as recorded by Matt Maher will be thrilled to learn that former FFH band member Michael Boggs has returned with his latest solo album, More Like a Lion, available everywhere March 25.

I've been consistently challenged by songs that include messages about living out the "the Golden Rule," found throughout the Bible: Leviticus 19:18: "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." Matthew 7:12: "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Luke 6:31: "And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise."

I had the great opportunity to speak with Michael about his convicting and catchy new song, "What Would Jesus Undo."

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

The song for me was one of those songs that just happened. Sometimes you find songs, and sometimes songs find you, and this is a case where the song found me. What started it off was a conversation I had with a worship leader over lunch and she mentioned the "what would Jesus undo" phrase. I stopped her and said, "That's really good." Her church was doing a series with that title and we both realized nobody had written a song about that. I asked her if she minded if I wrote a song about that and she said that would be great. Four months went by and I had that title in my hook book, and I was at a youth conference where Shane Claiborne was speaking. 

I had never heard him before, but I was drawn in from moment one. He started quoting from a book, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters.

What he said was that several hundred people had been asked for the first word that came to mind when they heard the word "Christian." The top three answers were: "anti-gay", "hypocritical" and "judgmental." There were no good things in the top 15, and "love" never made the list. When he said those statistics, it knocked the breath out of me.

If this is true of what our culture thinks about Christians, then we've done a bad job of living out the Gospel. The fact that love didn't make the list burdened me, and I wrestled with that for a while. Eventually I thought that it was a good time to merge the ideas of "what would Jesus undo" with the opening of Shane Claiborne's sermon.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song? 

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 (ESV): "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Matthew 21:12-13 (NKJV): "Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

Jeremiah 8:14 (The Voice): "Some people in the land believe they know God's ways, but they don't. In fact, the ways they twist God's words and perform empty rituals only make things worse. Over and over again, prophets such as Jeremiah have attempted to describe the devastation that will result from the actions of those who refuse to listen to and really know God. As the invading army comes across the borders, some realize that what God has said--what the prophet has spoken in His name--is all coming true."

What is the takeaway message?

The song centers on the idea that grace should be at the forefront of the Church. The message of the song is less about pointing fingers and more about each of asking ourselves, "What would Jesus undo in me?" I think He would undo any barrier that stands between Him and the people that He loves. Maybe it's hypocrisy--saying one thing and doing another. Maybe it's judgment, anger, or resentment. I think there are things that Jesus would undo in each of us because He wants His people to be built on the foundations of love and compassion.

I had some rules in co-writing the song with Jason Cox. We had to write honestly and not tiptoe around the subject. For people being introduced to God, we had to be honest. Secondly, we could only speak about things we had done or knew somebody who had a struggle with the topic.

As a minister, I lead worship for college students and young adults and meet with many them for coffee and regularly in the conversation they give me a reason they are jaded towards Christianity or church. A lot of those conversations and responses made their way into the song. That's partly why I think it is more aggressive, lyrically speaking, than anything I've ever written.

I've heard from so many people who are turned off by the Church. I knew we had to say something about this, even if people get upset at us. For the sake of my friends at my church, I knew we had to write the song as honestly as we can. My first line of defense is I sang the song for my wife. I played it for her, and she told me I had to record it. What I found out is that people who have heard have been encouraged. Maybe God might use this song to help break down some of these walls that the church may have unintentionally built over time. 

Lyrics:
Would God un-preach every sermon spoke in hatred
The kind with hell fire burning on their lips
Would He un-sing every sacred song of worship
When we sing but don't mean a word of it

Would He un-say every scripture said in anger
The kind that's used to hurt more than to help
Would He un-point all the pointed words and fingers
Hold up a mirror so we can point 'em at ourselves

Oh the things we do in His name

I wonder if He shakes his head
And thinks that's not what I meant
What does hurting, the hurting, prove
If we're supposed to love
I wonder why we judge
When grace has, graced us too
When (If) it comes down to me and you 
(Pray we all would see the truth, maybe ask a time or two)
What would Jesus undo

Would He un-keep all the treasures that we're hoarding
Give a couple hungry mouths some food
Would He un-build all the walls the church keeps building
To keep all the sinners off our pews 

Oh the things we do in His name

Love doesn't keep score
Love cares more for others than it does itself
When will we realize
Maybe open up our eyes and see
This ain't the way it's meant to be

As Michael and I discussed the song and the profound message, we talked about how we are commanded to love others by Jesus. This song challenges me to think about how well I am loving others. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." 

On page 94 of the book Crazy Love, Francis Chan writes: "I was challenged to do a little exercise with these verses, one that was profoundly convicting. Take the phrase love is patient and substitute your name for the word love. Do it for every phrase in the passage. By the end, don't you feel like a liar? If I am meant to represent what love is, then I often fail to love people well. Following Christ isn't something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are." 

Even if we give away everything we have to the poor, The Bible tells us if we don't do those things in love, it is meaningless. God sees that and that matters to Him. I am convicted to live out the words of the song and that 1st Corinthians 13 Scripture passage. Today I'm going to be patient. Today I'm going to be kind. Today I'm going to care more for others than myself. This song has really become an anthem for me to think about how I'm living out "the Golden Rule."

As you listen to this great song by Michael Boggs, think about how well you are showing the love of Jesus to others and know that Jesus loves us and wants us to glorify Him. Before you do anything in His name, ask yourself "What would Jesus undo?" Amen to that!

(Watch the music video here.)