So it’s been awhile since the last post, but let me challenge you with these questions here; Have you ever thought about how as human beings we like to put up walls or barriers to try and protect ourselves from getting hurt or from being too vulnerable with others? Or have you ever thought about how we think we are protecting ourselves when in reality we are only boxing ourselves into isolation. For instance when we think we are getting to close to something or someone we pull back into our shell and put distance so that we can control how much or how little we let people see. To put it in a different way we like to put something or someone at arm’s length so that we cannot get too close, or so they do not get too close to us. Its kind of like we open the door only wide enough to let them in as far as we let them. Or we leave the door cracked or adjured just enough that it won’t show too much. It is like there is this fear of rejection that is within the back of our minds trying to distract us from seeing the whole truth. However, in reality we are not just hurting ourselves we are hurting those or what we put at arm’s length. For example we hurt those around us because we are scared to let go and be ourselves. We hurt others by rejecting them first before they can hurt us. The thing is that could be holding us back in fear, pride, shame, or even insecurity. Or we are afraid if someone sees the real us will it be enough or will they run in the other direction? And then, we think to ourselves if they run in the other direction we can’t let our guard down because we end up getting hurt in the end anyways so what is the point? In all honesty, there is not a person on this earth who is not guilty of this in one way or another. So do not think you are standing on the sidelines by yourself. And to be transparent I have been guilty of doing this in the past as well, because of fears or insecurities that have hindered me from embracing things that I should have stepped out in faith for. Furthermore, if we put this on the flip of a different situation, as a Christian we ask ourselves if I show the real me will people see the love of God displayed throughout my life? Or will I only be judged upon mistakes from the past? Will people see the evidence of God’s love in the choices that I make or will they see it through the integrity that I live by? The point is will people see the evidence that I am a child of God? Am I fighting for what’s right or am I hiding my faith? Am I building up fellow believers around me or am I pushing them away because we’re scared to let go of clearly what we don’t really have control of? Basically, one of the reasons we put up walls or barriers to protect ourselves from getting hurt is we want control we want to only let people in as far as we will let them. And yet sometimes we treat God like this in our relationship with him because we don’t want to expose all our flaws or insecurities, or mistakes we only want to see the good. The point is we try to hold our relationship with God at arm’s length so that he’ll only fix what we want him to fix yet that’s not really how it works. When we let go and let God work in our hearts he will clean out all the sin and pour in his steadfast love into us. What is still astounding and what I find amazing about God is he never forces his way in. He will never force his love on anyone but will come in where he is invited in. God’s love is not dominate or demeaning, his love is filled with purity, peace and humility. To be quite honest we cannot hide from others, and we cannot hide from loving others or stepping out in faith. And we also cannot hide from God it is impossible. But most of all we cannot hide from the things that scare us or what makes us afraid, and we cannot hide from the place God places us either with the people he places before us. Although we may want to hide from things or sometimes we try to make ourselves so busy we don’t have time for things, or from the things that scare us. Moreover, I am learning God won’t let us run away or hide from things instead he will turn the tables on us so that we run right into them instead by running into God himself. The point is God will intervene or change something so that our hiding will be exposed into the light. In other words he will illumine what is in hiding or darkness so that it can be healed or resolved. Another interesting thing about how God never forces his way into relationship with us, is how he asks questions. He will get us to think about how we are seeing things or approaching things. Just like in Genesis 3, when the fall of man happened when Adam an Eve ate from the tree of good and evil when they realized what happened to them they hid because they were ashamed of their sin. The interesting thing was the two different questions God asked them after the fall, because he already knew the answer. It says that, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? “ (Genesis 3:8-11ESV). The reason why these questions are interesting is because, God already knew the answer, and because he was exposing why they were hiding. Also because God was not going to let them get away with disobeying him and he was not going to just let them hide because they were afraid either. Another reason why these questions are so intriguing is that sometimes we have these fears or insecurities that are barriers that hinder us from seeing the truth where God could be calling us out to see or ask ourselves “who told you that?” For instance maybe he’s trying to get us to stop believing lies about ourselves. You know exactly what I am talking about the lies we tell ourselves that hold us hostage of not being good enough or how can someone love me when I am so flawed or I am not equipped to do this. Those lies that are stumbling blocks where God is calling us to see who told you that, it's not true. Or maybe God is calling us “where are you?” when were sitting down probably thinking where is he, so we need to stop and look for him, and to seek the truth. So are you ready to trust God to break down or burst your bubble of barriers with his fireworks and love? English Standard Version Study Bible(2008) Crossway Publishing, Wheaton, IL,
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