Mike Donehey, lead singer of Tenth Avenue North, talks about the meaning of their hit "You Are More".

You can watch the music video here: You Are More.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been re-made.

The other day at a show. Little girl, probably 5 years old comes up to our sign line and says, "this is my first concert ever". I'm like, "you're first concert!", I mean, that's hard for us to comprehend because we play concerts every day, that's what we do, you know. But, for a lot of people, they've never been to a concert, you know, and they don't know what it's like. And come a new concert is so strange because you've got all these people that come in and they set everything up and... and there's this sort of weird roar that happens right before the doors open and then just all these people come into this room.

People from different classes, races, uh... successes, failures, different walks of life. They all come into this room and you've got this crazy conglomeration of people. And xxxxx and it's our job to get up there and say something, say something that will connect with all these different people. And I used to think my goal as an artist or a prophet, whatever you want to call us, that my goal was to get people pumped up, to get them inspired, to get them worked into a frenzy so they can go out and live for God.

And then, back then I didn't realize that you can't live for God until you learn how to live because of God. And you can't go and make good choices for God until you understand the gospel that says, "the choices you make don't make you who you are. What Christ has done for you makes you who you are".

And-and I don't mean to undermine the consequences of our choices. I understand that the choices we make, they have ramifications about where we end up, but here's the gospel: where we end up is not who we are. Who we are isn't what we do, who we are is what has been done for us. And, you see, that's a message that I can say to anybody, because if you're good, hey, guess what, you're more than your success; and if you're bad, hey, guess what, you're more than your failures.

You're more than your choices, you're more than your mistakes, you're the sum of the Father's love for us, and that's who we are. We're not struggling to be free, for in Christ we're free to struggle.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been re-made.
You've been re-made.
You've been re-made...