Naked Under Our Clothes…

Naked Under Our Clothes…

 

The voice in the back of my mind continues to reiterate the statement “Document the Journey” and this is something that has been on my mind for several days now. Like several chapters in this book, this is one I initially considered leaving out but am going to “put out there” for those who might be able to relate or receive from it…

 

Serving in ministry for 20+years now, I have been privy to information about people and their private lives that most never hear or see. Most people only show you the side of them that they WANT to portray or expose. As a result, we only know the “them” that they show us… However, in my experience, BAR NONE, everyone that I have ever met has issues about their lives that they would prefer to remain private and unexposed. The saying, “Skeletons in their closet” comes to mind as I think about the numbers of people who have confided in me about their deepest, darkest secrets.

 

There was a time when I saw people much differently than I do now. When I was considerably “greener” or more naïve about the human “condition”. Although, my perspective was much more cheery, I came to realize that it was a façade. Please don’t get me wrong, I am still VERY optimistic and I love people GENUINELY! (In fact, I think I am able to love them MORE now, understanding this perspective.) This is certainly NOT the beginning paragraphs of a pessimistic vent, but I am laying ground work for a reality check that I have had that may offer insight for you in the future to balance your own perspective.

 

It is our desire as human beings to want to believe the best about people. We want to think that we can trust our neighbors. We want to believe that we are rubbing elbows with “good” people at the grocery store. We have an expectation that people will do what’s right because it is right…BUT when we see life through glasses of “expectation” we set ourselves up for heartache and a hard fall…Let me explain…

 

As a young boy, I attended a great church in southeastern Michigan. Our church was growing, there was a significant sense of “family” there. Our parents often hung out with each other throughout the week, there were church picnics where even the kids were invited to play softball with the adults, dinners together…etc…it was really pretty cool…we weren’t a huge church but we were a “tight” church…. Then something happened that ripped the rug out from under our foundation… The pastor fell… The circumstances surrounding the fall are irrelevant but the impact was devastating on many people in the church. I was young but I still remember seeing how peoples lives were affected by another’s choices and over the years I have weighed the impact of those actions in the lives of many who I still know as they were really never the same.

 

Let me start by saying that I absolutely believe that there should be a high standard that ANY Christian would aspire toward. The example of Christ SHOULD be our goal as Christians…BUT people are still people. Every one of us have (or have experienced) significant pain and every one of us have failed God in some capacity (many of us with “major” failures of some sort)…ALL OF US! So let’s stop pretending that our pretty clothes make us something that we are not… WE ARE ALL NAKED UNDER OUR CLOTHES! No matter how we cover up what we don’t want people to see, WE know what we REALLY look like… and so does God! That goes for everybody, the worship leader, the Sunday school teacher, and YES, even the pastor!

 

I believe that there should be a moral standard for leadership that lines up with biblical instruction and I also believe that we should be able to place trust in our leaders… BUT my caution lies in the arena where people put TOO MUCH faith in their leadership (or expectations of them) and not enough in God, ultimately placing man in God’s seat…

 

As I cited earlier, many peoples relationship with God suffered when my Pastor fell… (PLEASE UNDERSTAND, I relate to the pain of pastoral failure… I’ve experienced it in my adult life and it is EXTREMELY difficult…so I get it!) But we as children of God should be seeking the face of God and cultivating a relationship with Him BEYOND our leaderships “experiences”.

 

As much as we would like to make them out to be “greater than”, our leaders are still only human! And to place them on “God like” pedestals is not only unfair (to them and us), but it’s irrational. Couple this perspective with the fallout afterward… In my own experiences, after people are let down by those they looked up to, a “justification” comes in and this is what I often hear… “Well, so and so did that and I’m not doing anything nearly as wrong, and God is still using them in ministry… SOOO…” It is this “justification” mentality that I want to briefly address.

 

Let me be honest and say I’ve been guilty of this train of thought myself in the past. However, it does not have any biblical justification. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people make excuse for their faults by comparing their “circumstances” to someone else’s… This train of thought is nothing new, the blame shifting for sin started in the garden with Adam blaming God, “that woman you gave me…” But there is something to consider…God doesn’t weigh sin on scales like we do, nor does he excuse it because one of His “other kids” did something “worse” (in your book). The bible says that we are to work out our OWN salvation, each one with fear and trembling. (Ultimately, meaning with an awestruck respect for God and His Word.)

 

So here’s the point, what’s between you and God is between YOU AND GOD! Don’t blame shift…Don’t justify it based upon what you know someone else is doing or has done… Recognize that Christ has set a higher standard for us even if NO ONE but you ever aspires to reach for it! Not that we become any more “saved” by seeking to live a life that is pleasing to God but we do honor Him when we put His word into action in our lives…

 

Let me also point out, we are not better because “we don’t”…We are better because “HE DID”…Even on your BEST days, your “good” actions cannot blot out your sins…Christ did that all on His own when He went to the cross FOR YOU! BUT now, how we continue to “walk this thing out” is entirely OUR CHOICE! And we will be held accountable for what we choose…If we choose to walk in His righteousness, God will strengthen us to do that and guide our paths as we seek His direction…and ultimately we posture ourselves for God to be able to move on our behalf…If we choose to use our own navigation system, our dead ends and pitfalls are ours to take responsibility for…and the consequences are not God’s fault.

 

How many times have we blindly stepped off the steep embankment in our season of “self navigation” only to cry out to God as we wear our fingers to the bone clawing the side of the cliff trying to break the fall that WE set in motion?! The law of gravity SUCKS at that moment but God didn’t push us off that cliff…We stepped… and there’s a HUGE difference!

 

The bible says, “You choose TODAY whom you will serve!”

 

We cannot continue to allow another’s failures or experiences to justify our personal relationship with God or with sin. If there are things that we struggle with, then we need to address them with God and get His direction on how to overcome! Sometimes that direction comes from reading a book on the subject, sometimes it comes from God ordained relationships helping us with our problems, sometimes it’s simply a matter of determining that our relationship with God is more valuable to us than the relationship with sin that we have hidden, cultivated and protected… No matter the case, the ball is in our court! As much as we’d like to try to divert the focus, excuse the action or pass the blame… Justification for sin is simply an intentional deception of self… God’s not fooled and He’s not buying the excuses either…We choose the sin… Keep it in perspective… The wages of sin is…

 

I am writing this to place a light on an area that many of us have intentionally excused and hidden in a dark place. My intention is to get us to think about what God’s word says and not what our mind has invented to excuse our sin… There IS a standard!

 

I’m reminded of a song from years ago… Here are the lyrics… I think that they sufficiently address exactly what I am addressing and will adequately close out this chapter…

 

There’s a silent war that’s raging deep within me

My lower nature fights to dominate

My spirit man is poised and locked in battle

With the carnal side of me I’ve grown to hate.

 

The trumpet of my prayers plays toward Heaven

A voice of desperation in my cry

Lord, strengthen me that I might not yield myself to sin

But keep Your righteous banner lifted high.

 

CHORUS

Lord, I hunger for holiness

And I thirst for the righteousness that’s Yours

That my mind would be cleansed

And my spirit renewed

And this temple that You dwell in would be pure.

 

The tempter stalks about me as a lion

Searching for the slightest scent of blood

For when the skin of my resistance is broken

He moves in swiftly to deepen the cut.

 

Oh, Lord of all Creation, hear Your servant

You understand the weaknesses of man.

I’m counting myself crucified with Jesus

Alive to Christ and dead indeed to sin.

 

Lord, I hunger for holiness

And I thirst for the righteousness that’s Yours

That my mind would be cleansed

And my spirit renewed

And this temple that You dwell in would be pure.

 

If you can dig it…Say Word!!!

 

Lyrics: Hunger for Holiness – Carmen