The song “Healing Begins” by Tenth Avenue North has one of my favorite lyrics in all of Contemporary Christian music because it holds so much wisdom within it, and I need to share it.
In fact, this whole song is full of amazing wisdom, and I’m going to use it to lend a helping hand to an argument I’ve wanted to make for a couple of days now, which regards how to speak to those who are not saved and living in sin.
We often say, “Love the sinner. Hate the sin.” And I think we’re all on board with that. But I want to take that a step farther: you don’t express your hate of the sin to people who don’t care about your opinions on what is sin and what isn’t.
Why? Because as far as they’re concerned, their beliefs say they’re doing nothing wrong. At that point, your job is only to love them, not point out how much you hate what they do. You have to love them to the gospel so they can see Jesus’s love from the cross, and from there, they can work on changing themselves if they choose to accept Jesus’s sacrifice and worship Him as Lord.
This is a big topic, and I’m not going to do the whole thing justice, but this is a short example of what I mean and how it works. Foul language is wrong. The Bible says, “No foul language is to come from your mouth,” in Ephesians 4:29. But that’s a belief that Christians hold, not a belief that the rest of the world holds. Therefore, it’s not something that can or should be fixed until after someone becomes a believer.
See, our job is to get nonbelievers to the cross so they can accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Then the Lord works on their hearts to change their behavior. It’s something that must happen within them first before you or anyone else can help them.
But back to my favorite lyrics ever, which are these:
So you thought you had to keep this up
All the work that you do
So we think that you're good
And you can't believe it's not enough
All the walls you built up
Are just glass on the outside
These six lines can encompass so many different things. Whether you’re talking about faith through works or working and living like a super Christian on the outside when you know your heart isn’t in it, these lyrics are so broad, yet so specific, they can be applied to any situation. But the key point is the separation between you and others.
The last two lines of the first stanza are flawless, in my opinion, and this comes from someone who used to put up his own walls like these. See, while we think the walls we’re building up keep people from getting too close and seeing the darkness in our hearts, it actually just keeps us locked in. Others can see right through the glass separating us to see us suffering in our own hurt.
The walls don’t keep others or God out. They just keep you in; they keep you from experiencing the freedom that comes with letting go of yourself. They keep you from receiving help from others because though people can see through the glass to your suffering, they can’t get through it to help ease your pain and share your burdens, as Christians are called to do.
But, as the next stanza describes, when you let your walls fall down, people will be there to help you, and you’ll experience freedom.
The chorus is pretty great, too.
This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark
Healing begins when you let your walls fall down so the light can come to the dark and clear it out. This is quite literally one of the best metaphors for salvation I have ever seen. Sin is darkness and in us. Jesus is light and outside of us. We block him out by thinking we’re good enough on our own and building up walls with our own works. But when we break those walls down, the light is able to reach us and begin clearing out the sin, the darkness, within us. The only thing stopping Jesus from reaching us is us letting Him in.
And all that happens inside of you. It’s a change of heart and mind, not just actions. Because when you just try to change your actions instead of your heart and mind, you get the next few lines.
Afraid to let your secrets out
Everything that you hide
Can come crashing through the door now
But too scared to face all your fear
So you hide but you find
That the shame won't disappear
We’re often afraid to confront that which we know is wrong. We want to keep it a secret from God, so we hide it, but that leads to shame, which further leads us to separation from God. And, this leads you right back to building up walls to keeping God out. You have to literally come to where you’re broken with God and let Him cover the sin.
Sparks will fly as grace collides
With the dark inside of us
So please don't fight
This coming light
Let this blood come cover us
His blood can cover us
His blood is capable of covering the wrongs inside of you. His light is capable of rooting out the darkness. His grace easily defeats your sins and mistakes. So let your walls down, reach inside yourself, and let God confront your problems with you so healing can begin.