O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart…Psalm 15:2 (ESV)
Sometime ago at an event, it was time to take pictures and instinctively, I sucked my “tummy” in. It was a habit I had developed since childhood. At that moment, I heard a question within my heart: “Why do you do that ?”
While these weren’t audible words, the thought was very clear and so, I began to consider my ways. I realized I sucked it in whenever I was with a group of people, and when I didn’t want relatives who may have noticed my increasing girth to criticize me. Sadly, I was pretending, deceiving myself. In reality the bulge was still there. So I let it out, stopped masking my weakness and a genuine desire to work on my size began to develop in me.
Prior to that time, the more I hid my unhealthy weight gain, the more I excused my unhealthy habits. I had convinced myself that once I looked good in ‘public,’ I was ok. It wasn’t till the Lord showed me my heart that I became honest with myself.
“Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.” (Psa 51:6)
How often do we try to alter our image, rather than actually changing? How often do we mask our weaknesses, create a fallacy of “perfection,” to avoid being shamed for not “measuring up.” We don’t need to do that anymore. We belong to the Lord now, not the world.
Christ has redeemed and forgiven us so we can be transformed us into His image.(Galatians 1:4; Romans 8:29). All we need is to come clean about our failings and be transparent before Him. Jesus knows us completely yet invites us to come.
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb. 4:14-16)
To receive the grace we need, we must face the truth about ourselves, jettison fear and shame, and remember it’s God’s evaluation of us that matters, not the world’s. God who evaluates us is the One who transforms us.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for knowing me completely and loving me totally, despite my flaws. Help me to live a sincere life. Help me to understand that I don’t have to hide my weaknesses. I bring them to you, that ‘your strength may be made perfect in me.’ (2Cor12:9). In Jesus name.