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| Garden of the Gods | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
If we pretend to be
upright and only exude happiness and joy, never showing or admitting to any
errors in our way, we are not following the plan of God. He wants us to
share in our suffering with brothers and sisters in Christ. Do not pretend to
be perfect, it is pointless. No one is perfect and all you will do is show
yourself as a fool. Utilize integrity and seek meekness, pride is the root
of all evil, the enemy longs to have us see ourselves as better than everyone
else. The enemy wants us to see other’s short-comings and whisper to us:
"You're better than that person." This is crookedness and will
destroy you. Dishonesty and creating an image of yourself that isn't true
to who you are will only bring pain. There is no comfort in never being
known by anyone. Yes, hurt can come from being known. However, if you are never
known to anyone, you will never find comfort and joy. Imagine
this: You continually never show who you truly are for years and years,
you act differently than who you truly are towards some person, now they
thoroughly enjoy who you seem to be too them, somewhere in your mind you will
see that they enjoy who you’ve pretended to be and now you realize they don’t
love who you truly are, they just like the person you have pretended to be.
That is a very lonely place to be and it is not walking in line with the
Gospel. We should be seeking righteousness during our time on earth and
one of the ways to do that is to remain humble. One of the keys to
humility is admitting when you are wrong. You can only admit to being
wrong if you are being true to who you are and don't merely project who you are
to others. Does this make sense to you? This is important! You
must be who you are, regardless of how messy that may be currently, to be known
and have restoration. We are all broken, we all fall short constantly. One of
the best ways to seek healing is to go before those you love and confess, seek
help, find a counselor, speak to your pastor. A lot of our pet sins never get
addressed because no one knows about them. This bondage of sin will gut
you and you'll never be able to overcome it on your own. Be free!
Those who walk in
freedom will be delivered from trouble, those who are wicked will walk right
into trouble without a flinch. (This does not mean you won't experience
trouble in life, it means you will live in eternity with no troubles, only
perfection) Introspection and perspective are very key to seeking
righteousness. We must be able to see the sin in our hearts and lives and
able to address it in humility. Or, allow others to see the sin in our lives
and call us out in love for that sin. We need to learn how to ask for help
instead of saying we are perfectly fine while we are on fire. Humble
yourself before God and cry out for help, humble yourself before friends and
share your pain, humble yourself before your spouse and share your struggles
with him/her, in these situations, there is healing, even though it is
painful. We are to be trustworthy people and this comes through respecting
their secrets and sins. If someone confesses to you, do not betray them by
sharing that with others. Do not hint at any of it. Keep your trap
shut! Surely your sin far outweighs theirs, thus you need to continue to
grow and learn to be humble in these scenarios. No one enjoys a babbling
brook of smugness.
We should long to be
pure in our hearts. This has been one of my biggest obstacles in
life. I struggle to have a pure heart and mind. I strive to be a Godly man
who loves the Lord but I stumble daily. I seek that which pleases me instantly
and gratifies my need to satisfy myself, not God. I seek out those who will
build me up through compliments and easy conversation, I must put effort into
ensuring I surround myself with those who will truly love me through questions
and placing things into perspective. I cannot trust myself to know what
is best for me, if I knew what was best for me, I would never make mistakes and
I would be perfect. Clearly, I don’t know what is best for me.
Dear lord, it is
evident that I do not know what is best for me in life. You are the one I
should seek with all of my energy and effort, but I don't do this a lot of the
time. You know what is best for me, you see all things, you are not bound to
time and you are wisdom. Draw me towards you in all things and allow my heart
to be open and honest with others. Let me be free from pride and sin.
Amen.
All images © 2015 -
2021 Jordan Tackett
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