"Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for
a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." John 4:10
So
I went on a bit of a blog breakJ.
I’ve been preparing for a Bible study at our church about the life of
Joseph and it has taken a lot of my time and focus. I’m pretty excited about it. I hope to share some insights from it here on
my blog!
On
Saturday Michael and I took a quick trip down to St. Louis. On the drive down I decided to do some reading. I actually re-read a chapter out of a book I’ve
been reading, I’ve found it to be so helpful as I prepare for the Bible study
on Joseph. The book is, From Dream to Destiny by Robert Morris,
and is actually a book I’ve referred to in a recent post (Pacemaker: The Ups and Downs). The chapter that I re-read out of the book
was the chapter on pride and Morris mentions that he believes a lot of our
pride comes from the “root of insecurity.”
He goes on to say, “If we take a closer look we can see something lying
behind this sense of insecurity. It is
fear—fear that people won’t accept us or value us unless we know how great we
are. So we talk about ourselves in the
hopes of being considered worthy of acceptance of others.”
Oye…I
ran right into a wall. I sat there for a
moment and this thought went through my head: No, this wasn’t talking about me because I’d dealt with my issues already
in seminary. I heard a sermon yesterday
where the pastor said we have a tendency to hear a message or read a scripture
and immediately think it’s for someone else and never us. If that’s you, if you are constantly seeing
others instead of seeing yourself, I’m just going to be blunt, Satan has deceived
you. Stop looking at others and starting
looking inward. Let God work in you. Let Him redeem you. Let Him set you free. We’ve all got unhealthy patterns that will
take the journey of walking with
Jesus to help heal. Some things are
healed in an instant but others will take years of walking with and
surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ.
At
least, this is what I am learning in my own journey. Because as I sat there in the car and let
this idea sink in a little further, it began to dawn on me that yes I had begun
working through my own unhealthy issues of pride/insecurity/perfectionism in seminary
but that didn’t mean it still didn’t rear its ugly head in other ways
You
see, I’m a recovering perfectionist. I
cannot thank the Lord Jesus for the ways He has freed me from this. He has buried so many lies in my life. But if I could be honest for a moment, I know
I’ve still got some issues to work through in this area. They’ve probably always been there I just
didn’t realize it until now, because I was a bit blind (that’s what pride and
insecurity does). But now, by the grace
of God, my eyes have been opened to a greater Truth, a great freedom which is available
to me and to you in Christ Jesus. I
think when Jesus sets you free in certain areas of your life; it opens you up
to the Truth of your own heart.
Something that you were once blind too, you now see.
Could
it be that we really could be completely secure in the amazing reality that we
are sons and daughters of the Upmost High King?
I think it could be. No, I know
it could be. Identity is found in Jesus
Christ and His relentless love for us, everything else is an exhausting empty pursuit. When identity is found in Christ we will no
longer need the accolades of others or have the desire to please everyone we
meet. We will know that the only person
we have to please is our Heavenly Father who will always guide us in
Truth.
Gracious Father, there
are many ways we have been blinded by insecurity and pride. In your grace and power would you open our eyes
to your Truth. Father it’s here that we
find true and lasting security in Christ Jesus.
No longer do we define ourselves by our externals, but by your
Love. We entrust this work to you and
rejoice over the chains you will break in our own hearts. Christ, be our one and only. We love you.
We need your help to help us walk this journey of faith. Thank you for never leaving us nor forsaking us. Amen.
I wonder how your eyes
have been opened to a greater Truth in Christ Jesus? I’d love to hear, please feel free to share!
