Sunday, October 5, 2014

"We become beautiful when finally deal with our ugly"


We can only hide who we are for so long. There will always come a time when what we are secretly dealing with will come out and we will have to either face it or deny it. But one day we will have to make that choice, until that time we tend to mask it with our outward actions. We tell someone who hurt us "I forgive you and I love you" but inwardly we say "How could you, I hate you with all my being." We go to church faithfully and never miss a service all the while our marriage is falling apart because of the affair we have had for the past 5 years. We smile and tell everyone that we are "Blessed and Highly Favored" even though secretly we are struggling with depression, anxiety, and fear. We quote scripture like a champ but fail to live up to those very same scriptures we confess. We have done everything by the book from birth till now, but we are struggling not to walk in pride. We hide our jealousy of the success of others in false support. We claim to have it all together but we really are discombobulated do to the current circumstances of our lives. Take your pick or insert whatever you will right here, but all of us in some part of our lives (no matter how big or small) are dealing with some issue whether we care to admit or not.

But the truth is God sees it all. The affair and the child that was conceived in it, our marital problems due to our spouses being more tentative to work/church as opposed to us, addiction to drugs/alcohol, our late night obsessions with sexual sin, lying on our taxes, falsely accusing others to hide what we have done, night terrors/post traumatic stress from past events, etc. He sees it all and is well aware it and yet despite the ugly beast that we keep hidden deep inside of us God stands faithfully by our side imploring us to turn towards Him so He can remove the pain of sin, the hurt of our struggles, and the fear that says "I can't let go of this because I don't know what will happen next"

Understand this God wants our ashes so He can give us His Beauty. He takes His Word and cuts us to the core by revealing to us who we really are. His Word shades light on our dark secrets. His Word makes it very clear that we cannot hide from God no matter what we try (Psalm 139:1-8). We cannot hide what we are dealing with from our Lord. In His presence we often find ourselves like The Prophet Isaiah who realized he was a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:1-5) but when He accepted God's Grace and chose to walk in His way, Isaiah became whole (Isaiah 6:6-9).

Even against this some of us rebel, we seek God's Word to make us feel good about our hidden struggles as opposed to seeking it out to change our hearts to a heart that seeks after God. Some of us would rather stay as we are because we are to afraid of what we would have to give up if allowed God to change us. We cry out how much we love Him but we cry even louder inwardly to hold on to pain, sin, pride, etc.

Masking our ugliness with accumulation of wealth, things, or people will never satisfy us. High church attendance will not make us a better person. Following religious doctrine will not bring us one step closer to God. But allowing God's Word (through the power of His Spirit) to transform your heart will. Accepting Him as Savior is great but following Him as Lord is grand. When our heart changes and is more like Him our actions will always follow suit. But we willing to admit our fault in God's presence as we read His Word.

This means we are not reading God's Word to prove our actions are just, we are reading His Word to change our hearts. God's Word is not meant to be used as a sword to kill our brethren, it is a tool used to restore or save a life (you can tweet that!). It also means when other confront us about an issue we are dealing with you do not yell back "Don't Judge me you hypocrite" nor do we say "Well you are just as sinful because you....." No we accept Godly accountability with thanksgiving but we reject worldly judgement with grace.

I pray this lengthy post was a blessing you. Stay focused you can do this!


Hebrews 4:12-16, Psalm 139:1-8, Isaiah 61:1-3


"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be accountable.

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com

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