We're not home yet

Sin, ok too strong a word, the stuff we do to hurt each other, the stuff we do to put each other down, to put one person over an above another or most likely to protect our own interests.

It divides us, hurts us, ruins our identity and causes us to see others well through its effects not as they are.

What would we think of each other if we could see each other in the light of eternity. When all the mess has been put on the table, healed, when we see each others motives and thoughts for what they were intended to be.

How many of us secure in Christ's love, in His presence would reach out to those we have lashed out at, hurt, fought, or treated badly and simply say sorry. 

Do we really have to wait that long.

The Fear that comes with Silence

Fear, the wrestling not just with right and wrong but with the consequences of doing what is right or maybe speaking the truth.
 
As I've hinted its been a roller coaster couple of years. Enjoying the blessing of finding something that I am good at and growing in it and growing in God.  Until it went wrong  I lost my role at church, a job most people said I did well, and that lovely saying crept in ... don't speak, don't be open, .... that will only will make it worse 

What does it mean when we can't tell the truth. It either means we did something that we are ashamed of, or we are being asked to cover up what someone else doesn't want known. But it eats away at us, at our relationships, at our transparency.


Nothing has been right since the silence came ... literally

 I am poured out like water,

 and all my bones are out of joint;

 my heart is like wax;

 it is melted within my breast;

 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,

 and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

 you lay me in the dust of death.

 (Psalm 22:14-15 ESV)

We need to live, speak and love in the light, to be transparent, to be open... without it there is death to healthy relationships... both in terms of our relationships to each other, and to God.

May you and I be blessed to walk in the light today.

Forgiveness

Sunday morning reminded me that in all things God's work is redemptive, on us and on those whom we interact with.

But it also reminded me that evil, the straight line, on target, thing that takes what is true, beautiful and good and corrupts if before our eyes is real and the higher the stakes the deeper the damage.

Truth

Can be spoken in love to or be a clanging symbol, spoken without humility and compassion.

We can choose to forgive because we want God to take revenge, to pour burning colas on a persons head, or to free us from the pain, or because we are ready to truly believe the best and have God truly bless and restore the other person. To bring into their lives all that He created them to be, to recognize that what is of God is always the best , the most beautiful, the most virtuous, the most good.

It's a matter of the heart, in the face of our falleness and the existence of evil, do we act in Christlike compassion or in human self defense.

The Gift

How many times have we hear Christ's work of salvation compared to a gift, literally a beautiful box in ribbons for us to open and know that we have been forgiven and that we have a way to heaven. That its all ok now.

Lately I've started to wonder if those around me are simply content to worship the gift and the God who gave it without really opening it up and receiving the fullness of what God has given to us thorough Jesus ...

yes our amazing God paid the way for us to be forgiven, justified and redeemed, He certainly opened the gates of heaven for all that believed, He is certainly the amazing creator that made the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all of that wonderful creation we love to play in.

But what if He wants us to open the box, and receive here and now a realtionship with Him where we are loved, healed, where we are able to work through all the junk and be free to truley love each other ...not "love on" each other, not fake it, not desire each other to meet our needs for love, but to love each other as Jesus loves us.  To be truly transformed into the image of Christ as his followers.... what if the trials and the hurts of this world, the anger that nice Christians, actually all nice people,  push aside and  hide, is our invitation to recognize that we need to talk it over with Him and know His love, His forgiveness and to forgive those that have hurt us both now and in the past.

What if the gift is our invitation to be free to enter more deeply into our relationship with Him.  To praise Him not just for His gift of salvation, but to laugh, rejoice, enjoy and glorify him in all of our lives.

To have the courage to open the box and live in true relationship with Him.'

That heaven is not so much arriving and hoping that we have the right tickets, but getting off the plane and running towards the beloved one that is waiting there for us with open arms in welcome.