"No!" I don't want to let them in,
With all their baggage and their sin.
With their faith in a theory, an idea,
They come to get, only to get!
They seem to love, but it's only for their own benefit.
They pretend to care, so I hold out my heart,
Only to be left alone, so alone!
"No!" I don't want to let them in.
I want to protect this already bruised heart,
I should'nt have let them in from the start!

Then I see a man walking down a road,
Surrounded by a crowd, yet alone, so alone!
He is beaten, and he is broken,
Yet He holds out His heart and cries,"Will you take it?"
I want to shout, "Let it all go! The pain isn't worth it!"
The Man beaten and broken looks up at me,
His eyes filled with sorrow,
But also a love, such great love!
I gasp, as realization sinks in.
This is Jesus, Messiah, Savior of my soul!

"The pain is worth it,"

He said looking straight to my soul,

"Because they are worth it."

"I bore the cross if shame and rejection;
I shed my blood... because YOU were worth it.
Hold out your heart, it hurts, I know,
To be rejected, to be left alone.
But how else will they know?"
" How else will they know what?"
I ask so painfully aware of my state.
So selfish! I don't want to let them in!"

"How else will they know you are my disciple
If you don't hold out your heart no matter the cost?
So hold out your heart."

The first part of this I wrote in anger and hurt. Sometimes it seems too hard to let people into your lives. To love them unconditionally. Rejection and hurt seem to occur all to often!! And it's painful! So why not just forget letting people in? Why not just build a wall around ourselves and shut everyone out? Why don't we do that? Because.... if we are true followers of Christ then we must do what He did and still does. And that is to sacrifice ourselves all for the sake of love. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son...." If we are true disciples of Jesus, then we have to hold out our hearts no matter the cost. We must give of ourselves, wholeheartedly. Jesus says, "Take up your cross, and follow me."