The Need for Air

As parents, we are often proud of our children. We ought to be. We raised them to think and function as responsible citizens, so when they do that, we have a right to be proud. My son wrote the following article making commentary on one of the current Christian songs entitled “Breathe.” I’m proud of this article. I think it is well worth our consideration.

Let me share with you the song’s lyrics, so that we are all familiar with them.

Breathe

This is the air I breathe.

This is the air I breathe:

Your holy presence, living in me.

This is my daily bread.

This is my daily bread:

Your very Word, spoken to me.

And I, I’m desperate for You.

And I, I’m lost without You.

Now you know the lyrics, let me ask you, have you ever not been able to breathe?

I have – multiple times. I am afflicted with asthma. And as I sing these words, I’m reminded of my experience with asthma attacks.

The song says “this is the air I breathe.” During an asthma attack, suddenly, you can’t inhale the air we all need to survive, to live. Try as hard as you can – strain with all of your might, you can’t get any breath. Your lungs cannot inflate.

The song then says “I’m desperate for You.” Not being able to breathe induces frantic, panicked desperation. Especially when you start edging close to passing out from lack of oxygen. The song goes on to say “I’m lost without You.” You realize, if you don’t get a lungful of air real soon, you will be lost – you will die. And your desperation peaks. It is a miserable experience.

During an asthma attack, you can’t breathe because your airways have become inflamed and swollen to the point of completely closing and blocking airflow. In a way, your own body is keeping you from breathing.

Spiritually, it is our own sinful lives blocking our access to God, the spiritual breath we need to be able to live. Without this breath, we experience lives of frantic, panicked desperation. Try, fight, strain as hard as we can, we can’t fill ourselves with what we need to truly live. We can’t breathe.

I have a rescue inhaler – medicine that reduces the airway inflammation and swelling. I can’t properly describe the relief when, after I use the inhaler, I finally suck in that wonderful, sweet, life-giving air. It’s enough to make me cry sometimes. The tension, panic, and desperation flows out of me like water out of a bucket that has suddenly lost its bottom. I go limp, savoring every delightful breath. I even get giddy.

Jesus is our spiritual rescue inhaler. He rushes in and clears the obstructing sin, allowing us to finally breathe in the presence of God. Our spiritual lungs can finally inhale. And the frantic, panicked desperation of our lives drops away, leaving us limp in God’s peace, giddy in God’s presence.

It is said we don’t truly appreciate the value of something until we no longer have it. That is true with many things, including breath and air. But, in our spiritual lives, we start out not being able to breathe. Only after Jesus clears our sins can we experience inhaling God’s presence. Only after Jesus comes into our lives can we see just how desperate and lost our lives were before.

This is the air I breathe: Your holy presence living in me. I’m desperate for You, and I’m lost without You. Dear God, my holy Father, thank You for the breath and life, both physical and spiritual, that You give us.