I wonder...

I wonder...do you ever wonder about things? Do you wonder why there is such order in this world even while it is filled with such chaos? Do you ever think about why people will love one person and hate another? Do you ever wonder why we treat each other with such contempt? Do you ever wonder why people lie, cheat, steal, hurt, destroy, deceive and do a whole host of other things to people around them? So do I. Even while I wonder about others, I realize that the same could be said about me. There are those who feel the same way about me, no matter how perfect I try to act or try to come off as in my life.

Then I read such words as, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5 ESV) I hear these words echo in my thoughts: "None is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good." (Romans 3:10b-12 ESV)  I realize the answer is that I am living in a fallen world that focuses on self and not on others. I realize even a deeper issue. My heart is that same way. I cannot change it. In fact, when left to myself, I often don't even want to change it.

That is when I give thanks to God for His grace and mercy. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 ESV) And again, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10 ESV) It is all about what God has done through Jesus Christ. He suffered and died in my place. He gave His life for all my sins, for all the ways I have broken the law. He died so that I might live.

And then He draws me to Himself. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, He breaks into my hardened heart, tears down the walls of sin, and makes me a new person. I am made new, not in my actions, but in that which Christ does within me. In my Baptism, the Old Adam in me is drown and I rise to a new life in Christ. He changes me. That is what happens. He changes me. I don't change myself. He makes me new.

Then I live in that new life. I listen to the words, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:11 ESV) My old self balks at these words. My new self, in Christ, empowered by the Spirit, rejoices in these words and turns from hatred to love, turns from deception to openness, turns from self to others. That is the life I have in Christ.

I wonder...what would happen if each one of us that professes Christ would actually live in Christ? I wonder what would the world be like if we would love as Christ has loved us. I wonder...then I I ask the Lord, let this begin in me. Instead of me looking at others and trying figure them out, send the Holy Spirit in to my life that I might be changed, yet again today, that I may grow in faith, love and life each day.

Yes Lord, let it begin with me.