Right now God, I don’t want to leave unchanged

One of the most moving pieces of conversation I have run across on a music CD comes from Shaun Groves on the Twilight album as he introduces a time of worship.

“Are you guys ready to worship with me tonight? Worship is not a song. Worship is my response to God with all that I am, to all that he is, all that he has done, is doing, and will do in me, through me, around me, and in spite of me, but it’s not just a song. Worship is our response with all of our lives, everything we’ve been given to all that God is. And so if we come in here to this place and we raise our hands and we raise our voices but we don’t stretch these hands out when we leave this place to feed the hungry and cloth the naked, and fight for the poor and for the oppressed, then what you and I have done is worshipped a singer or a song but not a God. So let me ask you again, are you ready to worship with me tonight?”

The next song on the album is After the Music Fades. One line really stands out to me. “Please take me, and break me. Right now God, I don’t want to leave unchanged. I never want to be the same.”

I was listening to this last night and I found myself weeping as my heart moved closer to God’s. Think how amazing life would be if we started to live with worship being a way of life where we are stretching out our hands toward others every day, and we are not leaving unchanged! That is the life I want! God is so transforming, and I don’t want to ever be the same as I was yesterday.

Our scars

I stopped by the store on the way home from work tonight to pick up some ingredients for a dinner I was to provide for someone who had just had surgery. When I got to the checkout I noticed my cashier was a man with a grossly deformed face. I am guessing he had some type of tumorous growth. It affected one half of his head (eye, check, mouth, ear, etc.). I had wondered why this checkout line was shorter when I got into, and now I wonder if this man was the reason. As I stood waiting for the person in front of me to complete her transaction I thought of the scars this man carries. His were on his head and face so they were available for the world to see. To hide them would be extremely difficult. Instead of hiding this man found a job where he interacted with the public every day. The courage he showed by working there, and the integrity the store showed by hiring him greatly impressed me.

As I left the store I found myself continuing to reflect on the scars we all carry. I was making dinner tonight for someone with physical scars from surgery. I have a friend who is dealing with scars left from rejection she experienced in childhood. I carry scars from both physical injury and emotional/psychological experiences I have gone through in the past. I know of others who carry scars (emotional and physical) that they have inflicted on themselves. Some scars are easily seen by others, while other scars are hidden. How do we react when we encounter others’ scars? Do we react differently to some scars than others? Are physical scars more difficult? Emotional?

God asks us to love everyone. In 1 Samuel 16:7 it says, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” ” As I stood in the store tonight I tried to see this man’s heart. I tried to look him in the eye, something he probably doesn’t get very often. I also realized how amazing God’s love is. He sees my heart and still loves me, scars and all.