Christianity

There's a lack of sincerity 

In religion today 

A lack of believers 

Proclaiming "we believe." 

There's a lack of faith

Among those claiming to be faithful 

A lack of trust among those 

Proclaiming to follow God.

So many religions

Creating so many rules,

Teaching us how to "act" 

But not how to pray. 

They show us what it looks like

To be a Christian,

But never actually show us

What being a Christian means. 

We need to open our eyes,

Stop being blinded by the world. 

We're in the world and of the world,

When we should be in it for Christ. 

We need to stop "acting," 

Falsely deceiving the world 

To believe we are Christians,

And start living out the lives

We claim to want so badly. 

We need to come to know Christ

In an intimate way,

And stop proclaiming "Jesus, Jesus," 

If He won't know us, 

come judgement day. 

It's not about the number

Of people you can fool,

It's about your heart,

And having it transformed.

It's about becoming the person

That no one understands,

It's about helping the broken,

Sick, fallen and wicked among men. 

It's when we get our hands dirty,

Reaching out to the poor,

It's when we preach the word of God,

And His words, through us,

Begins to impact the world.

That's when we'll know

We're on the right path,

We're just beginning to know God,

We're uncovering a fraction of His plan. 

You see, we'll never know

What Jesus has in store,

If we keep following the rules,

Society uses to make us blind. 

We'll never know His plan for our lives, 

If we don't break away from rules,

And begin to know Christ. 

Surrender

It's become a trend with society today to live our lives in the shadows. We live, complacently, in the shadow of those around us, unintentionally trying to hide parts of who we are. We find those around us who have done worse actions, or "graver sins," and we consider ourselves to be better than we truly are. It's become all too common to cast the shadow of other's mistakes and missteps over our own, to make our life choices not seem so bad. It's a way to trick ourselves into believing that we will be saved, regardless of how we live, so long as we don't sin as terribly as some others. 

The truth is, though, that we aren't going to be judged based on the sins of others, the lives of others, or the choices of others; we are going to be judged individually, based on our life, our sins, and our choices along the way. The only one we will be compared to, we need to realize, is Christ Himself. We can't spend our lives comparing ourselves to others in the world; the world is broken, lost, and saturated in sin and evil. If we base our belief in our goodness off of the evil of the world, we will never strive to be better. 

That's the problem with the world, in many ways. Everyone has a part of them that doesn't want to change. We settle in the complacency of life, and we become weighted by our sins. It is difficult to find the strength to lift that sin off of ourselves, give it to Christ, and change our ways--never looking back. Everyone simply wants to compare themselves to someone "worse" than they are, and therefore justify their actions, or sugarcoat them. But the reality is that sin is sin; regardless of what your sin is, it is still sin, the same as any other wicked thing we do or choice we make.

We need to recognize this, and allow God to change our hearts, open our eyes, and draw us nearer to Him. We don't want it to end up being too late, when we've had so many chances to give our lives entirely to Christ. It may not be easy to look at ourselves in the mirror and see everything wicked and evil that Christ sees, but in doing this, we will learn to see the potential that He sees too; we will be able to come into communion and communication with The Lord, and hear Him as He guides us through our lives. Through drawing closer to Him, riding ourselves of the sins that weigh us down, casting out our judgements of others and ourselves, and listening to His voice, we will finally see who we are truly meant to be. And it will be something beautiful, beyond comparison to anything we thought ourselves capable of. 

All we have to be willing to do is trust in Him, let go of our worldly possessions and desires, and surrender. Sadly, though, this is both the hardest, and the best, part. 

Vulnerable

In a world so absorbed in the outward appearance of others, on physical  attributes and features, we have seemed to forget entirely about the beauty of the soul. Social media, social norms and expectations, sitcoms, movies, and every other form of worldly influence, has manipulated us into living like robots. We all try and have the upper hand, planning our moves, our words and our actions at least three steps ahead. In doing this, in always trying to be in control, we lose sight of the value of living in the moment. We give ourselves over to the world, and, through this, we fail at giving ourselves over to The Lord. 

It's so simple to fall into a habit of keeping others at a distance; it becomes natural to always monitor your words, and fear you make speak to openly; sometimes this even transcends into the conversations we have with God. We don't hold back because we are too afraid to talk with God openly-- we hold back simply because the world has made us forget how to be open and vulnerable. The sad truth is that God wants that vulnerability; God wants that openness, complete and total vulnerable openness. If we can't be open with God--if we can't be vulnerable before God, we will never be open or vulnerable with each other. And we need that ability to be open with one another if we ever want to build and establish a real and lasting relationship. 

It takes a long time for us to realize the detrimental affect that the world can, and has, had on our hearts and minds. The defense mechanisms we create are real, and the walls we build up to keep others away from us are real, too. In the same way that it takes years to build up all these ways of keeping others out, it also takes years to relearn how to not use them in our daily lives. 

Sometimes we just have to allow ourselves to remember what it felt like to be a child and to trust others with no sense of doubt. Sometimes all we have to do is tell ourselves that we are going to dive in, with no regard for what may happen, trust blindly, and have faith that everything will turn out exactly how it is meant to. That's what will always happen, anyway, isn't it? It's not that we are trusting in people, but it's simply about trusting in God to guide you, and those around you, in the right direction; it's about trusting in God to bring out the best in others, the true beauty and goodness from within them, and allow that to become a part of your life. It's when you give people this kind of trust, and you allow them to become this close to you, that you remind them what it is to really be trusted and believed in by another person. This is what helps them return to that level of vulnerability and unfaltering faith in another person that they had so easily as a child. 

In a world so lost and broken, so focused on fitting in with social norms, and keeping everyone in our lives at a distance, it is up to every individual to make a difference in his or her own life. If we want to be trusted by others, if we want to draw closer to others and feel real connections, we need to be willing to give trust, to be vulnerable, to jump into friendships and relationships trusting not only in the other person, but also in Christ and His ability to guide and lead both of you to where you are meant to be, while guarding your hearts for you, along the way.