Begin With Me

Honestly, I love all genres of music. Hip-Hop, Pop, Country, Rock, Alternative, Gospel & Contemporary Christian all take up an abundance of space on my iPod. Of the Contemporary Christian genre, Point of Grace is one of my favorite groups. In May of 2001 they released a song that is still one of my favorites; "Begin with Me" is packed full of lyrics that are relevant to everyone, regardless of sex, age or social status.

As the song goes "got 20/20 vision when we're watching someone else, but it's a little blurry when we are looking at ourselves". How true is that statement? How clearly can we see the sins of others or what we perceive to be the sins of others but yet to look inside our own hearts we need bifocals. Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV) 1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. And yet here so many of us sit picking apart others, digging at the speck in thier eye when where we should start is ourselves. We often act as if the Lord sent us an email and said "you are responsible for making sure so and so lives up to your standards". If so and so is not your child living in your house, who are you to go digging through their failings when you haven't even read your own report card yet?

Now before you remind me that christians are to hold each other accountable, let me take you back to where the song begins. "Lord I know sometimes you look down and shake your head, when we know what we should do and do the other thing instead." That is me... sometimes. But the fact remains he loves us beyond measure, every single one of us. He doesn't pick and choose who and what he forgives, yet many think it is their lot in life to do just that. What a huge job that must be, sifting through the lives of others with such a crazed obsession; watching and waiting for them to stumble. The only problem with that is if you are so intent on watching them, you can't keep an eye on your own path. Does that mean you are depending on someone else to watch out for you? It must be somewhat like walking or driving and texting. Your attention is diverted in some other business, eventually you are bound to trip and fall or crash, and that crash could be life changing for you and those closest to you... more so than that text.

I started writing this blog post yesterday, but duty called and I had to stop. Interestingly enough, during that time I came across something a pastor had as his Facebook status. He felt it worthy to copy and repaste, as do I... "I'm so glad God sees my heart and doesn't judge me based on mistakes I've made. David committed adultery and murder, Abraham went into Egypt lacking faith and told a lie out of fear, Moses had an anger issue. Sampson was a womanizer, The Samaritan Woman, well we know about her. Oh my and look at Paul, one of the greatest preachers and writers (led by the Spirit) ever known, was a murderer of Christians and when he became a Christian he still had a problem with sin! These people made mistakes (sin) in their lives but look how God used them. They had a heart for God and was willing to be used by Him. You don't know a persons heart and they don't know yours. I'm not perfect and will make mistakes. I ask that you just pray FOR me and pray for God's will in my life. Jesus Himself said He didn't come to condemn the world. He came to show the love of God and He did it all the way to the cross being beaten and spit on by people that hated Him. So all we need to do is let Him love through us and not worry about crucifying people He's already been crucified for all of us."

Begin with me.