A Song to Ponder

I was listening to this awesome song the other day ... not sure if any of you out there have ever heard of Linkin' Park. I can imagine you have ...

Nonetheless, it's a new song, called 'Leave Out All the Rest'; and basically, it talks about leaving all the hurt, pain, the bad behind ... forgetting all the 'stuff' that sometimes, we can take with us to the grave ... we resent sometimes the things that have happened in our past, and sometimes, we don't let go until it's to late ... the song simply 'asks' to leave out all of what we can't change, and remember something good ... not only remembering the good in others, but also in ourselves ... it asks to leave out all the rest, and remember what went right ... it's a powerful message, with forgiveness behind every word ...

Let Love In ...

If I may be so bold, I’d like to pose a couple of questions to you all, my ‘blog friends’ … they are questions, that perhaps might evoke some emotion, but they’re questions that I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on … so, here goes:

Why do you think people judge others?
Do we have the right to judge another person?
What ever happened to LOVING someone first?

I must say … I’ve been pondering these questions the past few days … I’ve found that throughout my life, personally, I’ve been a ‘judger’ so to speak … perhaps not so much consciously, but more so because I thought something should be one way and not another … or I thought I was right, while the other person was wrong … when all along, I lacked the capacity to accept that someone else had an opinion! I think this was more in my youth … when I was in middle school, into my freshmen and sophomore year in high school …when I was naive and just ‘learning’ what it all meant to have a relationship with Christ …

However, as I’ve gotten older, my focus has become, not whether someone is right or wrong, but whether they are loved or not … perhaps that sounds a little strange, but, as I’ve learned more about the ‘heart of Christ’, I’ve learned that He just LOVES us, right where we’re at … He loves us even in our darkest days … He loves us when we’re sinning … He even loves us when we turn our backs on Him … and while that breaks my heart, I realize that I lack the way He loves others, many times … I wish I could love like Christ in moments where my anger gets the better of me … or I feel a ‘judgment’ coming into thought about someone … I wish that it was easy to LOVE at all times … but that’s where our human nature interrupts and invades … yet, I pose a challenge to those out there who call themselves ‘lovers of Christ’, including myself … instead of passing judgment on someone FIRST, why don’t you try LOVING them FIRST … Love them like Christ loves them … give them grace and show mercy, just as Christ has done so many times for you and I … it might be something as simple as a smile, or maybe it would require you to take a leap of faith, but do it! Do it today, and just let LOVE in ... when you can be overcome by the love that Christ has for you, you can then become 'in love' with those around you ... even when you don't agree with their lifestyle … even when their sin blinds them … practice LOVE first …