Sit down with someone, anyone, and ask them to tell you their life story (Christians call this their testimony, which is super-cute to me). But chances are you should brace yourself because this story is going to be intense.
We human beings have gone through some stuff. We're all a bit shaken up from things that have happened to us. We all hurt in one way or another and we all find healing or just keep the pain that becomes our companion. We're all messed up. You start digging into somone's life and you start to realize, "Hey, I'm not the only one who's had it kinda rough." When you get involved in someone's life, it's gonna get messy real fast cause that's our lives. We've been through stuff and it clings to us and affects us every day in some way. It's these things that have made us who we are.
From this, I draw that conclusion that we're all broken and looking or holding onto the healing (or something that we think is the healing).
See, we all find something to help us through it. For some it's internalizing, for others it's drugs or alcohol, for others it's relationships, and for some it's God (these people are so smart...). For a long time I was stuck in the internalizing stage, holding back all that had happened to me because I didn't want people to know and give me that oh-I'm-so-sorry-that-happened-to-you-you-poor-dear face. I found my strength in the fact that I could get through stuff on my own. I was stronger than them. This still is a vice for me, I suppose (I love how sometimes when I'm writing things come out and I didn't know they were there...). I also got stuck in the relationships stage too. Finding people to fill the gaps of the loneliness and brokenness is pretty easy, but yet somehow always leaves you wanting more. More friends, deeper friends, more laughs, more fun, more attractive, more of give-me-all-your-attention-please-cause-I'm-important. Worship me, cause I'm strong and cool and smart and fun. And this is where it gets scary. Worship me? What the what? But does this make sense? This realization hit the other day when I realized I wanted all the attention and glory and praise and honor. In other words, worship me, please, because I'm that great.
I'm such a mess, guys. Writing is my therapy.... hahaha
Anyway, what I think I'm getting at is we all have something. Something that makes us messy and broken, and we all have our ways of dealing with it. I have two propositions for you:
1). Stop being so strong. You were never meant to carry the full weight of all that has been given to you. God asks us to give him our burdens and he will carry them, while he gives us his yoke (which is easy and light; also his yoke is not a set of rules to hurt you. They're God saying, "I made you, I know how you work, and if you choose this, it will be death. But if you choose me, it will be life. Please, choose life!"). You don't have to be so strong anymore. God is not glorified when we take everything the world throws at us and say, "Bring it on, I can take that." God is glorified when we take everything the world throws at us and say, "Bring it on, my God can take that for me."
2). Love people, guys. They've been through it just like you. Even when they're having a bad day and they treat you like dirt, you just remember, they've had it rough, and possibly in comparison, you haven't. Life is hard and we've gotta stop beating up on each other. It's not helping, it's hurting us even more. Creating more bitterness and hate. Especially as Christians we must see what God sees, people who need healing and love.
This is why Jesus came. He lived a perfect life because only a perfect sacrifice could pay for my soul and yours. I can't sacrifice enough to get myself into heaven. Nothing I've done will save me, no good deed or kind act. Only by accepting Jesus as my sacrifice and truly surrendering my life to the one who paid my debt will be enough. And that is mercy and grace at it's finest. I get what I don't deserve (heaven and Christ) because of God's overwhelming grace and love for me, absolutely nothing I say or do by myself could get me these things, only by God's grace and mercy. He loves us so much, guys. He wants you to be with Him, and He is so good, I promise.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
No More Coverups
Warning: this post may challenge you and make you uncomfortable, if that scares you I hope you keep reading! =)
So lately I've been confronted with a lot of sin in my life. It's pretty much always been there in one form or another and I fairly recently learned how much it was impacting my life. That was probably a year ago that this realization occured. You want to know how many people I told? Zero. Yeah, and that's the first issue I want to address here.
As Christians we tend to get so comfortable in our "Christianity" (I say this in quotes because I don't think this was ever intended to be a part of real Christianity) that we get over God using us. We get so "old" or "mature" in our Christian lives that we think that God is done using us for our mistakes and is ready to start using us for our amazingly great acts of service, because we've been Christians so long we don't mess up and we don't struggle with the "Big Sins." Well, let me say flat out: I am a Christian and I do struggle with sin. a lot. And I think that every Christian who is brutally honest with themselves will agree. If you're having trouble with this and don't think you apply, maybe sit down with a close friend and see what they may think you struggle with (it may be pride... just saying) and confront your sin. Come face to face with the fact that you, yes wonderful little Jesus loving you, do struggle with sin on a daily basis.
Ok, now to the even more nitty gritty (oh goodie =)). I think that we go so far with this sin/struggle covering up business that we find ourselves both a.) deceiving ourselves and believing that we really don't struggle with sin, and b.) thinking that we are alone in our struggle because no one else wants to admit it either. So we're all stuck in this viscious cycle of holding in what we deal with to appear as everyone else does. Now, what does this make us? Dumb. We're all covering up ourselves to look like each other, how confusing.
(Does your head hurt yet? Mine does! You can do it, just a few more paragraphs!)
So to combat thinking that you really don't stuggle with sin, I suggest you sit down and shine light on every aspect of who you are until you find what it is, and then go to war with it! Fight it, ask God to remove it and give you strength!
And to combat you thinking you're alone, and this is the icky part: tell someone. Fact is, we're all struggling with something and just waiting for someone they can talk to about it without feeling ashamed. But if we all keep our masks of perfection and super-spirituality on then we can't help each other with our issues. We're all dying behind our fascade of perfection. How ironic!
Why is it so hard to be real? Maybe it's because it's icky. No one wants to deal with bad behaviors/sins. No one wants to talk about the fact that they can't stop thinking about sex, or that they're addicted to food, or that they lie constantly just for attention. It's awkward and embarrassing. UNLESS, you both deal with it. Then it's progress. It's a mutual realization of sin and a way to move forward together. We weren't meant to do life alone. God created and Adam and saw that it was not good for him to be alone! How are you and I different from that? (hint: we're not!) God created us as his body to lift each other up and to mend each others wounds, isn't that what the body does? But if we don't let anyone know we're hurt how will they be able to help us heal? I'm not saying healing can't happen just between you and God, but a good sister or brother in Christ is exactly the catalyst God prescribes.
My advice, just do it. Forget being the perfect little cookie cutter Christian and open yourself up to the idea that God may be letting you deal with this specific sin in order for you to help someone else with the same issue. Showing people that you're not perfect does not make you look weak, instead it shows that you do not rely on this world for your worth but on God. Not saying it's easy, by all means it's probably one of the hardest things to do, but if you really want to see God at work in your life, be clay in his hands. He'll take you on one crazy ride, I promise.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
So lately I've been confronted with a lot of sin in my life. It's pretty much always been there in one form or another and I fairly recently learned how much it was impacting my life. That was probably a year ago that this realization occured. You want to know how many people I told? Zero. Yeah, and that's the first issue I want to address here.
As Christians we tend to get so comfortable in our "Christianity" (I say this in quotes because I don't think this was ever intended to be a part of real Christianity) that we get over God using us. We get so "old" or "mature" in our Christian lives that we think that God is done using us for our mistakes and is ready to start using us for our amazingly great acts of service, because we've been Christians so long we don't mess up and we don't struggle with the "Big Sins." Well, let me say flat out: I am a Christian and I do struggle with sin. a lot. And I think that every Christian who is brutally honest with themselves will agree. If you're having trouble with this and don't think you apply, maybe sit down with a close friend and see what they may think you struggle with (it may be pride... just saying) and confront your sin. Come face to face with the fact that you, yes wonderful little Jesus loving you, do struggle with sin on a daily basis.
Ok, now to the even more nitty gritty (oh goodie =)). I think that we go so far with this sin/struggle covering up business that we find ourselves both a.) deceiving ourselves and believing that we really don't struggle with sin, and b.) thinking that we are alone in our struggle because no one else wants to admit it either. So we're all stuck in this viscious cycle of holding in what we deal with to appear as everyone else does. Now, what does this make us? Dumb. We're all covering up ourselves to look like each other, how confusing.
(Does your head hurt yet? Mine does! You can do it, just a few more paragraphs!)
So to combat thinking that you really don't stuggle with sin, I suggest you sit down and shine light on every aspect of who you are until you find what it is, and then go to war with it! Fight it, ask God to remove it and give you strength!
And to combat you thinking you're alone, and this is the icky part: tell someone. Fact is, we're all struggling with something and just waiting for someone they can talk to about it without feeling ashamed. But if we all keep our masks of perfection and super-spirituality on then we can't help each other with our issues. We're all dying behind our fascade of perfection. How ironic!
Why is it so hard to be real? Maybe it's because it's icky. No one wants to deal with bad behaviors/sins. No one wants to talk about the fact that they can't stop thinking about sex, or that they're addicted to food, or that they lie constantly just for attention. It's awkward and embarrassing. UNLESS, you both deal with it. Then it's progress. It's a mutual realization of sin and a way to move forward together. We weren't meant to do life alone. God created and Adam and saw that it was not good for him to be alone! How are you and I different from that? (hint: we're not!) God created us as his body to lift each other up and to mend each others wounds, isn't that what the body does? But if we don't let anyone know we're hurt how will they be able to help us heal? I'm not saying healing can't happen just between you and God, but a good sister or brother in Christ is exactly the catalyst God prescribes.
My advice, just do it. Forget being the perfect little cookie cutter Christian and open yourself up to the idea that God may be letting you deal with this specific sin in order for you to help someone else with the same issue. Showing people that you're not perfect does not make you look weak, instead it shows that you do not rely on this world for your worth but on God. Not saying it's easy, by all means it's probably one of the hardest things to do, but if you really want to see God at work in your life, be clay in his hands. He'll take you on one crazy ride, I promise.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
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