It is six-thirty a.m. on a Saturday morning. Everyone is asleep but me. I am sitting at Nat's wooden desk, drinking in the early morning sky outside my window. The trees are a dark silhouette against the pale grey sky, and I feel the chill of the day already, seeping through the front door where Dennis, the cat, has ripped away half of the rubber sealing. I keep thinking about a quote I read somewhere, not sure if it was Marianne Williamson or Nelson Mandela who coined it first (I've seen it attributed to both), but anyway it was something about not being afraid of our own greatness. About embracing your power instead of shrinking from it. It reminds us not to play small, or hide in the shadows. When I think about living for Christ, I think that this is what I need to remember: He created me to do great things for Him. He did that for all of us. It isn't serving my Lord when I play small with the gifts and talents He has given me.
I love the title of this blog because, for me, this is what it all comes down to in the end. We've got to go through a process of stripping away all the external trappings: the religiosity that so easily morphs into hypocrisy, the fake masquerading as real, the lies disguised as truth. I see a time, not so far into our country's future, when those of us who proclaim the Name of Jesus, those of us who call ourselves Christians, when we will be forced to shed our safe homes and our steady jobs and our conformity to the world system...for the sake and the call of standing tall for our Savior.
It breaks my heart when I read about believers in other countries, where religious freedom is not a way of life, and those who choose to read the Bible do it at the risk of imminent torture, imprisonment or death. I sit in this quiet room and I glance over at the small bookshelf near the desk. I count the Bibles sitting there, and my heart is immediately shamed. I have eleven Bibles there, all different translations, some with large print for my aging eyes, one with a stretchy blue and white cover that I particularly like. I love Bibles, and find them wherever I go. Often I will pick one up at a thrift store for a dollar, sometimes I find them in old bookstores. For years, I have collected them. All sizes, colors, translations. I cherish them and now journal in some of them. It is not wrong for me to love and collect Bibles, but IT IS SHAMEFUL THAT I HAVE SO MANY and so many others do not have even one.
It breaks my heart, literally.
The sky, now pink, soothes me as I write these words. I am reminded that I can take a deep breath, back up, slow down and deal with things one ...step...at...a...time. Perhaps I can mail some of my Bibles to a missionary organization. I could start a Bible class for the people that live near me, and each person can use one of the Bibles for the class. I could keep them, but study in them more. Regardless, I know that I must cherish the Word of God, hold it safe and strong inside my heart.
What is our naked self? How do we come to Him without all of our preconceived notions, our ridiculous plans, our prejudices and hang-ups? The Bibles tell me how: we should come to Him as innocently as children, with our hearts wide open for His teaching, our spirits receptive to His words. He is pleased with broken and contrite hearts.
Our worship must be centered and couched in vulnerability and transparency.
We need to find our way back to simple honesty.
We need Jesus Christ back...in our government, in our homes, in our hearts.
Amen and Amen.
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