Stop Running and Start Looking

When I was a teen, the preaching I heard scared the hell out of me.  I heard about the depths of evil and that I was evil.  I heard the threat of torture and the sure and coming great judgment of God.  I had already felt afraid, ashamed, worried, and bad about myself.  The preaching I grew up on was better at making me feel like I was a great disappointment to God rather than an outrageous merciful God who wanted to make me know I was greatly loved.

I tried as a young Christian to fix the cracks in my life but to no avail.  Slowly I begun to distrust my own ability and have learned to put my trust in God's abilities for my life.  My disappointments and brokenness turned into opportunities for spiritual growth and divine appointments rather than hard evidence that I was a failure in God's eyes.  I have a greater sense of freedom now to both confess my fears and insecurities as well look into the darkness of my own soul with God's illuminating light and help.

The one thing I really miss living on the East Coast is sailing.  I loved the way the sailboat glided over the water as waves splashed upon my body.  I loved the way the sail grabbed the wind and propelled us forcefully forward.  For many people, I think our lives have become so cluttered and full of focusing on the wrong things that it's like our spiritual sails are tied down.  We wonder when the Spirit of God blows why our boat won't move when the deeper problem is our soul has to be untied and free for God.

If you are physically exhausted and spiritually demoralized, your soul is probably tied down.  Sometimes it is this very place of coming to the end of ourselves that God can loosen our grip so that our sails can once again flow free in the wind and currents of the Holy Spirit.  If we continue to fill our lives with the stuff of the world and try to work out our spiritual lives on our own terms, eventually its all going to come crashing down or break down.  What are the things holding your life captive?  Do you recognize the presence and voice of God from within you?  Are you sick of hiding, pretending, averting, covering, and avoiding?  Then here is the word of God for you today:  "Stop Running and Start Looking."

Allow the Word of God to be a mirror to your soul.  Allow the Spirit of God to show you another reality that is beyond your intelligence, beyond feelings, even beyond your physical eyes of seeing.  Stop, look and listen to what God may be trying to say to you today.