You Are More

I (Julie) love Tenth Avenue North's song 'You Are More.' Sometimes we all just need to hear that no matter what we've done, Jesus will take us back and redeem our life another time. I watched the music video again today, and it struck me a different way. The band sings in front of a chalkboard covered in labels, accusations, questions, and confessions. Throughout the song, different people are shown writing on it emotionally as they wonder if they can ever be forgiven and loved. I got to thinking, don't we all tend to look beyond people to the chalkboard they are chained to full of everything they feel like they have to carry with them? Instead of seeing the person, we see what they've done (or what we think they've done) and we treat them accordingly. The sad truth is, each and every one of us could fill our own chalkboard just fine, but we'd rather read what others have written over their heads than turn and see what we've got in our hearts. God brought to my mind 2 Corinthians 5:16: "So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view." We have a high calling. Jesus asks us to look beyond what someone has done or hasn't done to see the person for who they are, for how he thinks of them. What if we truly looked at every person we met liked Jesus looked at us as He hung on the cross? At the end of the music video, water begins flowing down the chalkboard, wiping out all the words. Not just the little words, the ones that don't seem "as bad," but the big words as well. Words in all capitals, words written in ashamed anguish, words that seemed permanent. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul is talking about our ministry of reconciliation, how we are called to bring the Gospel to the people around us, to show them that they can be reconciled before God through the sacrifice of Jesus. He goes even further in verse 17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" This is a call for us to view our brothers and sisters in a new light. What if instead of focusing on the words written on their chalkboards, we took the rag and bucket offered by our Lord and lovingly, gently, wiped them off? No, we can't forgive their sins, and we can't give them a new life, but we can take the grace that God has shown us and shower it on them. Regarding no one from a worldly point of view doesn't end when they are saved. This is how we are to treat our brothers and sisters as well! Let's start cleaning some chalkboards!