Impressionable

I was on my way to work today,listening to my favorite song by Jennifer Knapp. It is called "Hold Me Now"........
From glass alabaster she poured out the depth of her soul
O foot of Christ would you wait if her harlotries known?
Falls a tear to darken the dirt
Of humblest offerings to forgive the hurt
She is strong enough to stand in your love
I can hear her say....

I'm weak
I'm poor
I'm broken, Lord
But I'm your's
Hold me now, hold me now

Let he without sin cast the first stone if you will
To say that my bride isn't worth half the blood that I'vespilled
Point your finger and laugh if you choose
To say my beloved is borrowed and used
She is strong enough to stand in My love
I can hear her say....

I'm weak
I'm poor
I'm broken, Lord
But I'm your's
Hold me now, hold me now

The words of this song make me realize what it truly means to have the love of Christ. There is a friend of ours that does not want to go to church because she feels that the church pretty much ousted her when she was at her lowest. Who are we to make someone feel as though they are not worthy of the love of Christ. I thought our job as a christ follower is to lift them up, and show them the love of Christ, no matter what they are going through, no matter what kind of sin has filled their life. I began to look back on my own life, and you can even think back on yours,at what times in your life were the biggest impressions left?
I know that in my life, I can think of a few different occaisions. One was the death of Matt's father. Two life long impressions were made on us that day. One was a good impression, left by our very close friends Ryan and Christy who came to the funeral that day and then came to my father-in-laws house and sat with us for many hours. Just the mere presence of our friends was more than enough to bring us comfort that day, at least as much comfort as one could feel after losing their father. The second impression made that day, was not good. Matt and I had been a part of a church family for several years, we were involved in church, worked in the church and never missed. But it lacked the love. No food was brought to our house, no phone calls were made to check on Matt. We felt very alone. In the year to come, depression got worse, and no one was there to reach out to us. Eventually we completely quit going to church. Another time in my life was when I found a lump on my breast, the pastor's family completely understood what a family goes through when this occurs, because his wife had been battling breast cancer. I was worried, and scared, but once again, felt alone in the church. It hurt me in a big way.
What impressions are we leaving on those that are hurting, what impressions are we leaving on people that are deep in sin and they are trying to find their way out of it but fall back in because we as Christ Followers turn our noses to them. It doesn't matter what sin, our job is to show them the blood of Christ cover's that sin, no matter how deep we are into that sin and no matter how bad you think that sin is. It is time that we as christ followers quit pointing fingers, and remembering that sometimes our mere presence is a beginning to showing the love of Christ to other's. Don't turn up your nose, but wrap your arms around people, and let them feel the love of Christ that they may have never felt before. When people are deep in sin, down on their luck, and feeling low, that is when we as Christ followers can make the biggest impressions on their lives.