No! You can't just shut the door!
This afternoon when I was putting my youngest daughter down for her nap, I had another God parenting moment. Her clothes are something we battle about quite a bit. I go in there and organize them. Then she looks for something to wear and those clothes end up in piles all over her room. It’s a constant teaching cycle that I am always finding myself working with her in. This afternoon I went to go pray with her to take a nap and those clothes were in a pile beside the bed. She’d taken one of her baskets and scattered the clothes. Frustration began to set in.
“Young lady,” I found myself saying, “Your grandmother is flying down this week. We cannot have clothes everywhere. You are going to have to do something about these clothes.”
“But mommy,” she looked up to me and batted her eyelashes, “It’s okay we can just keep the door shut.”
Her reaction surprised me. But as I dealt with her I began to realize that’s how we often respond to messes or sin in our lives. We think we can just shut the door and no one will know about it. We think if we just make it all look pretty it will be as if the sin isn’t even there. In truth, that’s a lie. My daughter’s messy room would be there whether the door to her room was shut or not.
Jesus talked about this same concept.
Matthew 23:24-26 (Amp)24You blind guides, filtering out a gnat and gulping down a [a]camel!(A) 25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean also.
You have to be real with yourself when it comes to sin in your life. You can’t just wallpaper over a hole in the wall and think it’ll be okay. One of these days someone will find the hole. You might think its fine, but God sees everything.
1 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV)
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
God sees your heart, and while you might think just shutting the door in an area will make everything okay, God knows that room still isn’t clean. Be real with God today. Get real with yourself. See if there are any areas in your life you’ve shut the door instead of dealing with the situations. Choose to clean up the room. Those kinds of things have a way of getting worse and worse until you deal with them. You might as well go in there now, and clean up the mess. You’ll be glad you did. Then you won’t have to hide anymore. You can have all your doors open and realize that it’s okay. God loves you. He even sees those doors shut in your life, and He loves you. Be real with Him today.
“Young lady,” I found myself saying, “Your grandmother is flying down this week. We cannot have clothes everywhere. You are going to have to do something about these clothes.”
“But mommy,” she looked up to me and batted her eyelashes, “It’s okay we can just keep the door shut.”
Her reaction surprised me. But as I dealt with her I began to realize that’s how we often respond to messes or sin in our lives. We think we can just shut the door and no one will know about it. We think if we just make it all look pretty it will be as if the sin isn’t even there. In truth, that’s a lie. My daughter’s messy room would be there whether the door to her room was shut or not.
Jesus talked about this same concept.
Matthew 23:24-26 (Amp)24You blind guides, filtering out a gnat and gulping down a [a]camel!(A) 25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but within they are full of extortion (prey, spoil, plunder) and grasping self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean also.
You have to be real with yourself when it comes to sin in your life. You can’t just wallpaper over a hole in the wall and think it’ll be okay. One of these days someone will find the hole. You might think its fine, but God sees everything.
1 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV)
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
God sees your heart, and while you might think just shutting the door in an area will make everything okay, God knows that room still isn’t clean. Be real with God today. Get real with yourself. See if there are any areas in your life you’ve shut the door instead of dealing with the situations. Choose to clean up the room. Those kinds of things have a way of getting worse and worse until you deal with them. You might as well go in there now, and clean up the mess. You’ll be glad you did. Then you won’t have to hide anymore. You can have all your doors open and realize that it’s okay. God loves you. He even sees those doors shut in your life, and He loves you. Be real with Him today.
Comments
Post a Comment