How It Separates You From God

Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person.

This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a struggle until the sin is openly admitted, but God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron (Ps. 107:16).

Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother.

The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder. Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother. He is no longer alone with his evil for he has cast off his sin in confession and handed it over to God.

It has been taken away from him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God and the cross of Jesus Christ… The sin concealed separated him from the fellowship, made all his apparent fellowship a sham; the sin confessed has helped him define true fellowship with the brethren in Jesus Christ.

THE STRUGGLE IS PART OF THE STORY

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

For various reasons, this past year has been the most painful year of my life by far. As of late, God has graciously given me a mild reprieve, but I still spend a lot of time thinking about all that happened this year and the way God used trials and tribulations to remold and reshape me.

What do you do when everything you have placed your hope and security in is swept out from underneath you like a rug, leaving you hopeless and literally on the floor, asking, “Why, God?”

As dramatic of a description as that may seem, I know what it feels like to lose out on a dream. It’s heartbreaking. And for me, even though it was a rude awakening, it was also a fresh beginning and a chance to truly, for the very first time, trust God and give him the pen of my life’s story—including my most of all my faith story.

We can never let ourselves forget that the struggle is part of the story. The nightmare we may be living—or have lived at some point—is something God can use to remind us of our need for Him. He can take our broken pieces and make them into something beautiful if we only trust Him. I know because I have experienced it.

“As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain

your mercy from me;

your steadfast love and your faithfulness will

ever preserve me!” {Psalm 40:11}

In these hard times, we often have to hit rock bottom before we realize our true need for God. In these times, we find Him on our knees. And when we do—when we humble ourselves before the Lord and ask Him for help—that is when we are reminded of whose arms will never fail us, whose ears will never tire of our cries and whose shoulder we can always lean on.

“I waited patiently for the Lord;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.” {Psalm 40:1-3}

When I was forced to deal with the broken pieces of an unhappy circumstance that came my way last year, the Lord opened my eyes to see that the life I had been living was utterly self-focused. He had so many wonderful purposes for allowing my struggle! I realized that I had been so narrow-minded in getting what I wanted most that I placed some important relationships in my life on the back burner. 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.” {Isaiah 55:8-9}

And as the Lord continued closed some major doors in my life, I had to learn to dance in the hallway until more of them opened up. And, even now—even though many doors have opened and many changes have taken place in my life—I am still dancing in the hallway in some areas. But I have hope that even if the doors I want opened remain closed, God knows better than I do, and His ways are not my ways.

Today I pray that God would open the eyes of everyone reading this to see that His ways are best. And even when struggles come, those struggles have a purpose and an important role in our stories. Let the struggles draw you closer to God and teach you true dependence on Him alone.

Faith.

I AM NOT MY OWN.

“Sometimes I feel like you’re worthless!” said the voice on the phone.

“Well then,” I replied.  “I suppose we shouldn’t be together.” I hung up.

After months of trying to end things, of breaking up with him repeatedly, I finally had the courage to let my boyfriend go once and for all. In the aftermath of that final phone call I had no tears left to cry. I simply closed my eyes and prayed for the strength not to run back to him, to let this be the end.

I lived the next few months and years of my life in a nightmarish haze. His words echoed in my mind. I thought about all the times he told me it was hard to fall in love with me because other girls were so much fancified and gracious than me. I remembered how he counted the pounds I lost and even said vice versa when i thought i was skinny enough. I was left drowning , looking upto others for my worth, and constantly feeling like a failure.I guess the Maslow's hierarchy of needs really applied to me then.

First "Worthless"

Worthless. I felt like someone had put a price on me – a price far cheaper than what I used to believe I was worth,a gem.

Have you ever felt like the price tag someone gave you determined your worth? Have you felt like you never measured up, or weren’t quite good enough? I’ve mostly felt that way. I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough, thin enough, popular enough, smart enough, or worth dating enough…I guess, quite simply, I just wasn’t enough.

When I read Matthew 27:9, it jumped out at me. “Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel.” I’ve read it a hundred times, but suddenly thought, “Thirty silver coins for the King of the universe? For the Son of God?”

All those times when I felt like I had a “Discount: damaged” clearance tag on me, I had not realized that my Savior was given the same tag. But the price tag didn’t stay on Him. He didn’t wear it for years like I did. He knew who He was.

One day as I was moping around my parents’ house, a few months after my break-up, my dad came over, took me in his arms, and said, “Kate, I don’t love you because you’re good enough; I love you because you’re my daughter.”

Second "Priceless"

My haze dispersed as I realized God was saying the same thing to me: “Tiffany, I don’t love you because you’re good enough. All your best deeds are like filthy rags to Me. You can’t ever earn My love, but I still love you right now, right where you are. You are priceless to Me. I gave everything – the life of my Son – to draw you near to Me. You have worth because I give you worth. If you’ll let Me, I’ll replace your clearance price tag with a ‘bought’ tag.”

God took me on a journey. Slowly He scraped all the remnants of that damaged goods sticker right off of me.  I discovered that I couldn’t know who I was until I knew Whose I was. He bought me with a high price. I was His. Being His daughter gave me a new identity.

I don’t feel worthless anymore. I don’t feel like I’m not enough. In fact, instead of focusing on me, I focus on the One who bought me with His life. The less I focus on me and the more I look to Him, the more my insecurities disappear.

Realizing that I am bought with a price taught me that I am no longer my own. I am His. When I live to please and glorify Him, instead of living to prove myself to others, all my insecurities fade into the background and true confidence erupts.

I am so thankful for a High Priest (Jesus) who can understand our struggles, because He experienced them when He came to earth to pay the ultimate price for our ransom. (Hebrews 4:15) He understands what I experienced, because He had a price tag put on Him too.  But He didn’t wear it. He knew who He was. So do I, because I know Whose I am. My Savior bought me with His life.

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TIME I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. The longer I live the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world. ~ John Burroughs

“I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” ~ Martin Luther