BLOOD STAINS

I've been listening to a really sad song called State of Mind by a grime artist called Ghetto from Plaistow in Newham, which expresses his inner feelings and struggles about his way of life and the violence and crime that he is involved with and sees daily on the streets around him.

The opening lines are shocking:

If I've changed, have I changed for the worse?

I come home with blood stains on my shirt,

Trying to fool my Mum like it's April the 1st,

Just to think I was raised in the church...

His description of street life is real and unglamorous and yet he knows that he can't break free from this way of life because it seems to be so much a part of him. He is "on the roads every day" and this involves extremes of violence and even murder. At one point he says, "Change? If only I could"

And yet there is a slight glimmer of hope in the chorus as the female vocalist sings,

This is just a state of mind for me,

Only God can change my life, set me free

The blood stains in the song are real... the stains of guilt carried by this generation of boys... I don't wish to be naive or romanticise this in any way.  The acts of murder and violence that are increasing in East London and every other part of the city are evil and disturbing.  I feel sick every time I read the headline about another young boy who has been stabbed or attacked.  In fact, only yesterday a boy died in Hackney as he was chased by a masked gang and fell from the heights of a tower block.  

And yet, somehow, for those who have glimpsed the realities of the depravity of sin in their own life, perhaps it should not be so shocking. Sin is real and Jesus came to change lives and set people free from the power of sin. Only God can do this.

I personally pray that Jesus would set me free from those areas of sin that I am still personally struggling with. The battle against sin is not easy. Lord Jesus, that you would give me freedom in You, so that I can share this freedom with others.