Secrets; We've All Got 'Em

Secrets, we've all got them don't we?  And yet when you meet and talk to people you would think you are the only person on the planet who has any secrets to be kept.  People as a whole are pretty good actors, because we've all got a few skeletons in our closets; you know things we don't want anyone to ever find out about us, but you would never know it to talk to them.

It's pretty crazy too, how we think we can stash these secrets away, figuring they will never be found out.  But in the end, secrets have a way of escaping from the behind the closet doors in our lives, often to our embarrassment and shame.  

One of my favorite stories found in the Bible is about King David and the time he watched a young lady taking a bath.  You can find it in 2 Samuel 11, but here is the "Dave" version. There was a time when kings were supposed to go to war, but King David stayed behind and sent his men on to the battle. One night he went for a walk on the roof of his palace, and happened to notice a lady bathing.  Immediately, he sent men to find out who she was, and she ends up coming to see the king, and they have sex producing a child.

This woman belonged to another man; one of David's own bodyguards, and this didn't even stop him from doing what he did.  Ultimately it ended in the death of Uriah, David's man. This secret came out, and David was humiliated by it, losing the respect of his men, and the people he ruled not to mention the son Bathsheba had given birth to.

We tend to hide our secrets because we are trying desperately to not look bad in the eyes of others. We are so concerned with our image, we let our integrity go by the wayside. While in the end, most secrets come to the light of day, embarrassing us anyway.  And this isn't just in Bible stories, it doesn't end there, every day we hear some story about someone who turns out to be someone different than we all thought.  

We see it on the news, or read it in an article and think to ourselves, "Oh my, how can this be?  I thought they were such a good person."  But the truth is, we start running through the Rolodex in our brain searching for our own skeletons making sure they are still hidden from view, with the thought, "If they can get to him, they can get me too."  

It's a horrible place to live as I'm sure you are well aware, I know this has been my address before.  What really makes this bad, is we were never meant to live like this. Adam and Eve started us on this path so many, many years ago, hiding from God after partaking of the fruit they were told not to eat. And to this day, we are all still trying to hide who we are too. We are bound by the secrets in our lives, because they keep us from living full lives they way we were intended to.

Maybe what we need to do, is offer a little bit of grace to those around us, realizing they, just like us have secrets which are keeping them bound and they need to be free from. What if we all worked at not having secrets? What if we brought those skeletons out of the closet into the light of day, and set them free? I'm pretty sure we would all be better people for it too. No more secrets to keep hidden from view, no more watching what we say, trying to keep people from knowing the truth about us; which is we are all imperfect, there is no one perfect, except Jesus.

Let's open the closet doors, release the skeletons and find the full life we are supposed to live; free of guilt and shame. Until next time, strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King.

Your Heart Is Free

Yesterday after church, my bride and I came home, fixed lunch and then did what we usually do on a Sunday afternoon, we rested. As I waited for lunch to finish cooking, I was flipping through the channels to see what show I would watch during my nap. This weekend was a free Showtime weekend on Direct TV, so I was looking to see if there were any movies I may not have seen yet that were showing. What I found was "Braveheart". Now I own the director's version of this movie and have watched it more times than I can actually remember, but if I'm not doing anything important and it is on, I'll always stop and watch it.

There was a line in the movie that caught my attention this time watching it, and it really struck a chord with me. Young William's father and brother have been killed by the English, and he is dreaming about his dad. They are laying side by side in his dream when his father turns his head to look at William and says, "Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it." Here is rough video of the scene:

As I pondered the words of William's father, I couldn't help but think about my life as a Christian. That is after all the whole reason that Jesus came, to free us. Look at this passage in Galatians 5:1 AMP "In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery[which you have once put off]."

Here's the deal, Jesus purchased our freedom with His death, burial and resurrection. Why then, do we not live free? And I'm not talking just about living lives that are entangled with sin so much as just the fact that we sometimes don't enjoy the freedom that Jesus has given us. It's like prisoners of war, even after the fact that they have been freed, sometimes they don't really know what to do with that freedom. For obvious reasons they are a little bit skiddish about what to do once they have been liberated.

I think we as Christians do that too. We live almost in fear sometimes that we are going to do something wrong, or embarrass ourselves so we hold back. All the while the Father is watching us, maybe even inspiring us to let loose a little, but because of fear we never really act out what perhaps deep in our hearts we really want to do.

If our hearts are truly free, and we were to live like it, what would that look like exactly? I think it would be that our days would be full, and vibrant with a life people would envy. We are told to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. (1 Peter 3:15) How many times has that happened to you? I mean do you live in a such a way that people look at you and wonder about why you are as alive as you are? If our hearts are truly free in the way that Jesus wants them to be, then people will wonder about it, and ask you.

So, if we are not being asked about the hope that is within us, it makes me wonder if we are truly living free? I think we need to reevaluate what we are doing as Christians, don't you? After all, as Christians we are the ones who have the answer to life's challenges, and His name is Jesus. So let's get out there and live as if our hearts really are as free as Jesus made them.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

They're Captives, Not Idiots

While at work the other day, a group of young people walked through my door. I looked up from what I was doing to see a couple of guys and girls, all tattooed and pierced in just about every area that you could see. They were dressed in a hodge podge of clothes ranging from shorts, to tank tops and pajama bottoms, not at all professional. The guy leading the pack walked up to the check out counter and asked, "Hey, are you hiring?" To which I replied, "No." As they all turned and walked out the door, I thought to myself, "I'm not hiring idiots." And went back to what I had been doing.

It was at this moment that the Holy Spirit convicted my heart for what I had been thinking, and I said out loud, "You're right Lord, those kids aren't idiots, they're captives." And that set me to thinking. I probably have had a bad habit of judging books by their covers, I'll admit it. I'm not the best when it comes to looking past the outside of a person, and making judgments. Yeah, I know this is a bad thing and the Lord has been working on me about this for years. I will say that I am much better now, than I was in years past, so there is hope for me.

It was this thought that those kids who came in my store were captives of the enemy that really stuck out to me for the rest of the day. I thought about those kids, and wondered what influence if any they have had by Christians. I know that while it is not my job to try and save everyone, or even help every young person that I come in contact with, I am to show the love of Jesus to them. I hadn't done that, and if they knew that I was a Christian, then could I have been another in a long line of Christians who instead of reaching out, passed judgement and had written them off? And if that was the case, what would their thoughts be about the Savior who loved them enough to die for them? Oh, here is another level of wretchedness that I've not seen about myself before.

Okay, so I'll admit it, this is not looking so good for old Dave today. Once again, I've been laid open and filleted by the Father so as to reveal another character flaw. Don't get me wrong, when He shows me these, it is for my good, because I know that Jesus wants me to be a better man today, than I was yesterday. And I want that too, even if it is painful sometimes to admit things like this.

I did a disservice to those young people the other day, and in doing so I may have added to their prison sentence, instead of helping them discover the true freedom that comes from knowing Jesus. How about you? Is this something that you have done yourself? How could you better interact with people who are not idiots, they're captives of the enemy in need of freedom? Let's get 'em up folks, and go win some people for the Kingdom today!