Two minute read.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world…..We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.”
I love reading Nelson Mandela! His life focused on what God could do with him. His smile said it all. And after his release from prison a free man, our Brother in Christ showed us how to live our lives as Jesus did.
Paul Tillich once said, “Decisions are the risks we take to be free.”
For many people, courage isn’t about trust, it’s about control. But think about this. Control can inflate our own sense of self-importance as it reduces the need for God.
And beneath our inflated sense of self-importance lurks the reality, the fear that we have. We find less and less interior in our lives. We can invest so much of our lives in appearance that we literally lose touch with our interiors!
That sounds terrible, I know. But our responsibility to God is to surrender day by day. If you know of any other way, shoot me a text.
Integrity is the Latin word; integer, it means – wholeness, completeness, or indivisible. Thankfully there are those ready to surrender, to come clean, to allow the Spirit of God to begin a life of integrity.
Not so true for Israel’s first King; Saul. We can read through the history of that tiny kingdom and her king, but Saul was Saul.
The Prophet Samuel anointed Saul, and for the 42 years he reigned, Saul had one huge issue most of that time. He was a control freak.
The Bible tells us that in time God rejected Saul and sent Samuel out to anoint a new King. Listen to what Samuel hears from God regarding the selection of a new King.
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7
Okay, let’s stop pushing Saul and begin looking at you and me. We can start at the heart of the matter to God… a matter of the heart.
“As water reflects a face, so man’s heart reflects the man.“ Proverbs 27:19
And by the way, the ladies thankfully as well!
Water was a mirror for the Hebrews. And each morning my bathroom mirror reflects the truth about my mug.
God is saying to you and me that what is on the interior of one’s life reflects who they are.
All of us have this tendency to sud-divide our personality and develop different values based on who we’re with. Again, we all try it, and it challenges us through the Holy Spirit on the way home. Holy Spirit says; What up with that thing you were trying to do? Mike, that ain’t you!
The bottom line here is that the more we try to be someone else, the less authentic we become to others.
Saul had 42 years to right a lot of those wrongs and reverse his course to develop some integrity. His heart chose not to.
Life isn’t about who you are today. Life is about who we are becoming tomorrow. Our hearts call us to respond.
MC
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