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| I'm a good person. I have no issues. Life is a walk in the park. |
What a mess we are, ever single one of us. In our modern society we work hard to cover up our issues and imperfections with happy pictures
on social media and small talk, but the truth is ugly. If you haven’t already
watched “The Push” on Netflix I recommend it! It’s a film about a social experiment
that reveals that most people, under pressure, are capable of committing
murder. Derren Brown picked four people for the experiment, two women and two
men. Both women and one of the men committed murder at the end of the experiment. All these people are normal people, not
mentally unstable, and still they chose murder.
The Push is far from the only psychological
experiment that has revealed that humans are far more self-centered than we
might want to admit.
We are a mess, we are what the Bible calls sinners. We hate the word sin, but it’s
quite clear that humans aren’t as sweet on the inside as they look on the
outside. The people in the social experiment chose murder when they were faced
with the realization that they might
go to prison if they let the person live. We think we are “good people”, we are
not.
Despite all this, regardless of our brokenness and
ugliness, God willingly chose to give up everything
to save us humans from ourselves. My mind struggles to understand how huge that
is, that God willingly took on unbelievable
amounts of pain to set my soul free from the bondage of sin. I can’t save myself from my issues, I can strive to
be “a good person”, but the social experiment shows that I’m not. Humans are
inherently selfish and if we are ever faced with the choice of saving our own
skin or committing murder 3 out of 4 will choose murder. Still, God loves us,
every single one of us. That's mind-blowing to me!
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| Imperfect, but dearly loved! |
Today we had a “Testimony Day” at our Women Connect
gathering at church and I was once again reminded of God’s limitless love. It’s incredible what God will do to reach us, even when we are running
in the other direction. Sharon was one of the women who shared her story at Women's Connect today. Sharon has been a believer
since she was a small child, but most of her life she hasn’t spent much time
focusing on God. She got caught up in chasing wealth, possessions, career success
and independence over the years.
One day Sharon suffered a stroke and a brain aneurysm
and ended up in the hospital. She had an out of body experience while she was
in the ambulance and found herself walking in the yard of her big house in
Toronto. She could hear a voice that said: “You
have spent all your money and focus on this, and you spend no time with me.”
She didn’t understand what was going on until later, and after months of recovery
and rehabilitation she knew everything had to change in her life. The doctors
say that she should be either dead or severely disabled at this point because
of the severity of her brain aneurysm, but she is walking and doing well.
Sharon has big scars on her body from the surgery and for
a long time she has been covering them up with a scarf. One day God spoke to her
during her prayer time and told her not to hide her scars any longer. God told
her to share her testimony and tell others that although she should be dead
today God decided to make death pass over her, just like it passed over the Israelites’
homes in Egypt. Today Sharon is living every day to the fullest, not worrying
about the future at all and making sure she’s spending time with God. She’s not
letting herself get distracted by the alluring things of this world any longer.
Sharon isn’t the only person I’ve met who have had miraculous
healing take place in her life. Two of my friends at Women Connect have
experienced miraculous healing in their own bodies. It’s one thing to hear
about God’s mighty works or read about them in the Bible, it’s different to
meet a friend who tells you their story. God cares for us, nobody will ever love you like God loves you, but do you love him? The Bible makes it clear
that all God asks of us is for us to love Him back and then go out into the
world and love other people.
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| Messy, weak and imperfect but forgiven, free and fearless in Christ. |
How many of us can honestly say that we really love God?
You can’t love somebody that you don’t know
personally. I don’t love Beyonce, because I have never met her. I love my husband
because every day I spend time with
him. Every day God loves you, protects you, cares for you and provides for you.
Do you even notice that in your
life? Do you even care about Him at
all?
I don’t know about you, but I tend to get easily distracted from the things
of God and choose to be self-absorbed. One of my New Year’s resolutions this
year is to spend more time with God. When Lent started a couple of weeks ago I
chose to fast from sleep. I decided
that I will get up one hour earlier every day to spend that hour with God. The
first week was very unsuccessful. I would get up, turn off my alarm, and crawl back
into bed. The second week I finally got a good routine going.
I get up at 5AM every morning to spend one hour with God.
I read 1-2 chapters in the Bible, I sing 1-2 worship songs to God, and I pray
for myself and others. I ask God to protect, guide and provide for all my
friends and family members and I ask Him to help them with whatever they are struggling
with. If someone’s sick I pray for healing. At this point my time
with God has become my favorite hour of the day. My time with God leaves me joyful,
at peace and full of hope every morning. But I’m aware that once Lent is over
it will be very easy for me to slip
back into old habits and not prioritize putting God first any longer.
Everything that is beautiful, good, lovely and admirable
in my life comes from the same source; God. How can I justify not letting God have the first hour of
my day when He gave up everything for
me? I will work hard to keep my Morning Quiet Time habit after Lent is over and
other people’s testimonies encourage me to keep God first. At the end of this
life I will not wish that I had spent more time on shopping, Netflix, or at the
gym. What will matter at the end is this: How much I loved God and how well I
loved other people.
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| Peace. Hope. Joy. Purpose. |
We all come into this world naked and we all leave it naked. Our beauty, career titles,
popularity, social status or prestige is temporary and will not impress God. What matters is if we love God or not, and if we loved the people God put in
front of us. How are you doing in these
two areas? I personally have a lot
of room for improvement in both areas, but every new habit makes an important
difference.
