"Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing."
Genesis 31:34
Shame always leads to hiding.
Like Adam and Eve, it grieves us to think that even a moment of disobedience has the shocking ability to separate us from deep communion with God.
So, we take cover--refusing to be seen.
We keep secrets--we hide--because we don't want anyone to know that we are clutching hidden comforts. We make excuses so divert people's attention away from them.
No one else may ever find them, but it doesn't mean they aren't doing us damage.
They make us feel safe...but at what cost?
'Without knowing fully what we are doing, we hide the things we secretly love and admire under our skirts, like Rachel, sitting primly and righteously on our camels, wondering why we are not whole, why we still suffer, why we feel unreconciled to the God we profess."
-Leslie Williams
Ask yourself:
What am I hiding? What "household gods" (idols) am I wanting to take with me as God calls me to leave where I am at and journey somewhere entirely unfamiliar? (Not that I truly WANT to take these things with me into a new season--just that the thought of leaving them behind scares me so much).
I know I am not whole. But what keeps me from being so?
What is MY secret?
Is it lust? Gluttony? Self-hatred? Non-sexual fantasy?
Am I willing to name it? Am I willing to release it?
"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them...everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:
'Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.'"
-Ephesians 5:11-14
Be honest with God about what lies hidden in the shadows of your heart, mind and habits.
Allow the power of Jesus to illuminate your life: Take the bold step to tell a sister in Christ about your secret. Ask her to pray for you and with you.
Kill the darkness with light.
It's the only way to be free and whole...
"So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed."
-James 5:16
"So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. - James 5:16"
ReplyDeleteI used to balk at this verse because Christians (like myself) were notorious for criticism and judgement. But then I heard testimonies of people like Jessica Harris sharing how God rescued her from pornography; and witnessed an ex-drug dealer in our Adult Bible Fellowship at church share how God got a hold of her life and turned it around; and read blogs like this one where I found honesty and transparency about biblical truth even in the difficult, but ever-so-real life issues of sexuality.
When I have been vulnerable (despite being scared to death) by sharing my testimony at work and at church, I believe God has worked. As individuals and followers of Christ, we need that desperately. Until we genuinely lose our plastic masks, we are only stifling God's work, destroying our witness to the world, and widening the door for sin in our lives.