The Darkness Inside:

Psalm 51:10
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

"To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself."-- Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

It's easy to focus on the darkness "out there".  I mean, there's so much of it.  Turn on any news station, pick up any magazine or newspaper, or surf the web at any given moment and you'll be bombarded by a flood of never-ending darkness.  Crimes, death, natural disaster, scandal, poverty.  It's all around us.  


It's easy to find our hearts united in a desire for justice.  A desire to rid the world of all it's filth.  To pick it up, dust it off, and make it all better.  


My heart resonates with that longing.  It's a real part of me.  I long to shine a light in this darkness.  And I am pursuing that. 


But for the first time in my life, God has been challenging me to take a good hard look at the darkness inside.


You see, in defeating the darkness inside is the first step to having victory over the darkness out there.  There is some serious truth in that statement.  God longs for us to take a look at ourselves as the first component to the problems around us.  


Want peace on earth?  Work on the relationships in your life that are in need of peace.
Want to tackle greed in corporate America?  Take a look in the materialism in your own home.
Want to overcome global poverty?  Take accountability of your own selfishness.
Want to get rid of the pornography industry?  Ask God to cleanse you of your own lusts. 
Want to do away with abortion?  See how God is calling you to care for the children around you.
Want to put an end to gay marriage?  Maybe it's time to learn the reality of unconditional love.


It's so easy to look at the darkness out there, but so difficult to look at the darkness within.  

I'm grateful for a loving God who doesn't rub my shortcomings in my face, but instead, He rubs them out.  

Lord, help me to search my heart and tackle the darkness from within.  
Create in me a clean heart and a right spirit.  

Pro-Life: What does it REALLY mean...?

If you've been following my blog, you may have noticed a recent entry on "the least of these".  That concept seems to be following me everywhere this week, in what I read, the discussions I have, sermons I have heard...God must be trying to get my attention about something.  Maybe he has always been, and I just finally started listening.

Either way, there was a profound portion in the book I'm reading by Brennan Manning that I had to share.  He is talking about the concept of pro-life, and those who claim to be activists in this area.  It's a challenging thought for anyone who claims to believe in the sanctity of life.

The way we are with each other is the truest test of out faith.  How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car. 

We are not pro-life simply because we are warding off death.  We are pro-life to the extent that we are men and women for others, all others; to the extent that no human flesh is a stranger to us; to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love; to the extent that for us there are no "others".

For others.  All others.  That is the vital truth that comes though loud and clear in what Brennan is saying, but more importantly, in what Jesus Christ himself is saying.


Take some time to think about your "pro-life stance" today.  Are you living up to your beliefs?  With your neighbors?  Coworkers?  Enemies? With the poor and the broken right in your city?  With the irritating and the annoying souls you run into everyday?  With the difficult and argumentative?  With the least of these.

Former post regarding the "least of these".