Been thinking…
The ultimate hypocrisy that I see in the church today is the rejection of grace. Not in extending grace to others, but in extending grace to ourselves. We often stand in the way of our own realization of redemption because we cannot forgive ourselves.
The reason it is easier to forgive someone else and not yourself is because you know what a bad person you really are. Even the worst person in the world has the full impact of his worst qualities hidden from you. I don’t want you to go on a narcissistic bender – I want you to let go:
Let go of the pain of being you.
Unclench your mind and open it to God.
Let go of the fear of being judged.
Be present with us and we will accept you (we have faults too — you’ll see them).
Let go of the uncertainty that you can’t be perfect.
God does not expect your perfection — he knows that you’re screwed up. That’s why Jesus came.
Let go of the excuses that stop you from committing to follow Christ.
The fear of committing is the fear of change. That’s a normal fear. Move towards God — this is a journey we take together.
God sees you for who you are and still loves you. You’re his baby. You need to accept yourself as broken and a work in progress. Leaving this unacknowledged is what leads to facades and inauthentic living. Just thinking about putting up a front makes me tired.
I think that Satan would much rather have us expend our energy on putting on a false front to others because of three things:
- It tires us out and makes us ineffective for Christ
- It embitters us as we try to compete with others for position
- It keeps us unaccountable for the festering crap and nasty stuff in our lives - we never get better.
Be yourself, and be yourself with us and in the Body of Christ.
The song that the universe is singing to you is that you are loved and that you are not alone.
