I look beyond the empty cross, forgetting what my life has cost

I hate the feeling of not knowing what to do. The feeling that you know what someone is doing is wrong and you don't know how to address it. Or the feeling that something is wrong and you don't know how to fix it. How do you show your disappointment in people about their actions and behaviors without coming off as pretentious or uncaring? Where do you draw the line between loving a person despite their faults and sins and allowing them to continue in their sin and their destructive actions? Do you show your displeasure at the stories of drunken revelries or do you stay silent? If you say nothing that they assume that you are okay with their behaviors, but if you get upset then they simply don't tell you and distrust your opinion. This is my dilemma. They know I don't like or approve of them getting drunk or having sex, but my problem lies with should I leave it at that or find some other way to show how their actions are hurting that in more ways that one. It's so hard to reconcile Sarah's tales of getting drunk, her violent behavior while drunk, and sex with her boyfriend with her stories of the amazing things she feels that God is calling her to do. Does she not realize that the spiritual gifts she prays and longs for won't come or won't be bestowed because of her actions that she doesn't feel she needs to change? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Yes, God can still use her for his glory (he can and will use whomever he pleases) but willfully sinning is never, never a good thing. Sarah is a good person, but that's not good enough, it's never good enough, it will never be good enough. I'm a good person, but I still sin. Sin is what separates us from God, and good actions can never come close to repaying the price that was paid for our lives. Is that so hard to understand?




I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
more and more I need you now
I owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
so steal my heart and take the pain
wash my feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
the sin-soaked heart, make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now