Was just reading through some of my old journals from times that were good and times that were hard. I found this wee random statement that I mustered up one day this time last year..
Jesus is the way the truth and the life, the truth sets us free.
As we allow honesty to surface, as we drop the act we become more beautiful, more free and more like who we were made to be.
I have to say I have realised that some of the things I say and do come from a place that is a bit false. Doing something because I feel I should. Afraid of causing a stir.
I have realised that people in general have a desire for the supernatural and a desire for the things that are unseen...but even more so people deserve and demand the truth.
I think sometimes as people of God we are too quick to force the deep hidden stuff and less willing to fess up to being real, normal and ordinary. Yet its that very place of vulnerability that God can use us most. Its in that place that people will see the truth in us, rather than be distanced by our ability to live like saints all the time
I sometimes am a fake- a- phob...Like I cringe in situations where things seem fake. Yet I am bored with just living in the real world. There is that tension that pushes me to keep asking for more.
Jesus really has shown me how to live and I am really thankful today for this reminder.
I reckon sometimes we think of Jesus as mister nice guy who just smiled and laughed and never hurt any ones feelings. But that is actually a fake image of him. As are the paintings of him just sitting idle doing nothing but looking happy. Yes he did that from time to time in the right rhythm but through and through he was an activist, he rubbed people up the wrong way when he really had to and he was a real man with the right balance of testosterone driven grrr and the beautiful gentleness that any real man should have.
Jesus didn't fake it. He was real. He worked hard, he struggled at times, he felt pain and heartache. He didn't hide behind a false smile when exploitation hung in the air...he called religion for what it was and kicked a few tables out of the way in the process. Actively reacting to the righteous anger inside. Yet his heart softened with affection towards little children and pounded with gentle compassion for the underdog and poor. I want to be like him...accept the female less kicking tables over kind!!!!
He was real
People were attracted to him and were not ashamed of their sin...
How many people would be completely open with us knowing that we were followers of God. Do they see us as the passive Jesus that is sometimes portrayed or do people know we are real...just like them searching for something a bit more fulfilling in life than just living.
Jesus had wounds and still does because those wounds are his glory and the part of him that we can relate to. No matter if we are at the front of a church or telling people how much we love God we must keep it real, continually confess our own human weakness and cut the act of squeaky clean living. We all have fallen short. Jesus is truth and he sets us free because we no longer hide behind a label. We are still us...trying to find his way and our way and combine the two...reality and the spiritual interacting perfectly when we manage to see it.
Psalm 32
Oh what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,
Whose sin is put out of sight.
Yes what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
Whose lives are lived in complete honesty.
When I refused to confess my sin my body wasted away and I groaned all day long.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
Finally I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to HIDE my guilt.
And you forgave me and all my guilt is gone......
For you are my hiding place...
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