Change Begins with Me!

My mind has been going 24/7 for the last few weeks.  So much is going on in the world.  You read this and you hear that.  What is happening in our world?

I realize that we live in a time when you find out information as it happens.  When President Lincoln was assassinated there was not any one filming it as it happened or captured John Wilkes Booth as he shot Lincoln.  There were probably telegrams that were sent to one town after another.  Then there were the newspapers that printed the information.  People had time to process what was going on.  We now react instantly to situations.  Is that good or is it bad?  I am not for sure.

But the one thing that I have walked away with is that "change can only begin within myself".  Until I respect , love and do something, nothing will ever happen.

Matthew West sings a song "Do Something".  These are the words:

      "I woke up this morning saw a world full of trouble now,

        Thought, how did we get so far down, and how is it going to get turned around.

        I thought, "God why don't You do something?"........

        He said, "I did....I created you!...."

God created me.  Life begins with me  There is so much being said..."don't judge", "we need to tolerate", "don't tolerate".  Where do I begin?

The eyes of our hearts need to be opened.  Jesus' eyes were opened to the woman at the well.  The Jewish leaders were trying to trap Jesus with the adulterous woman.  If Jesus said the woman should not be stoned, they would accuse him of violating Moses' law.  If he urged them to execute her, they would report him to the Romans, who did not permit the Jews to carry out their own executions.  Jesus said to them "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground.  The Bible doesn't say what he wrote.  He was silent and took time.  He didn't react immediately.  The silence convicted the others.  John 8:9 states "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last."  Jesus looked up and the only person there was the woman.  He asked her where did everyone go.  No one had condemned her.  "And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."  He did not condone her or ignored her sin.  Our change in life begins with confession and repentance with a changed heart.

Only with God's help can we accept Christ's forgiveness and to change our life.  Where does peace and tolerance begin?  It begins with admitting what the wrongdoing is and that we go and sin no more.

I am the first to admit that I am a sinner.  I will live with the consequences, but I don't have to dwell in it.  I have Jesus in my heart.  May He live in me so that I don't judge others and that I can make a difference.  What is piercing your heart?  Each one of us is a creature of God and He created us.  The change starts with each of us.

May God's Spirit sweep across our cities, states and country and that our hearts will be pierced to know that Jesus lives in each of us!