#No Filter

#No Filter

 Hi sis. So, I saw this picture (the picture is shown below), and I couldn't help but think of how often I can resonate with it. I'm a pretty open book and I've been told that I "wear my heart on my sleeve." This is true when it comes to how open I am with my close friends, but sometimes I find it hard to be as open with God. 

How about you? Is it something you feel you can resonate with as well?

I want this post to be an invitation  into the beginning of liberation from suffering in silence. Honesty with yourself, others and God about how you feel, how 

you're   doing, and what you're struggling with is what will set you free. 

A parable that Jesus tells of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee is what comes to my mind. Luke 18:19-4 shows how that is played out:

In short, the Pharisee and tax collector both decide to go up to the temple one day to pray. The Pharisee, used to represent someone who trusts in themselves for their own righteousness and looks down on everyone else, prays and thanks God that he's not like others when it comes to sin but that he instead does everything right. 

Now, the tax collector is used to represent someone who can't even raise their eyes to Heaven because of all of the sins they've committed. When the tax collector prays, he admits his sins to God and begs Him to have mercy on him. In fact, the Bible describes him as "banging on his chest" in distress over his sins.

After Jesus tells the parable he says, "I tell you, this one (the tax collector), went down to his house justified rather than the other, (the Pharisee), because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted." 

1 Peter 5:5-7 confirms Jesus' words:

"...all of you, clothes yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares for you." 

So my friend, Jesus desires to hear from you. Not the cleaned up you with the filter, but the you right here, right now, with every imperfection, every sin struggle, insecurity, hardship or lack. Where ever you may be, none of it can separate you from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus. 

Know this - Jesus did not save us so that we would get it together, but because we can't get it together. Not without him.

With that, let's consider Galatians 3:3 where it says, 

"Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by the spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?"

According to Matthew 5:3, Those who are poor in spirit are blessed because they have to rely on God for their righteousness rather than their own works.

Finally, there's a passage in Matthew 11 where Jesus says, "come to me, those who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest." (Verse 28). A few verses before that, Jesus is praising God for hiding "these things" from the wise and revealing them to the infants. 

In the verses following Matthew 11:28, Jesus says how we need to be like children in order to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. 

I believe that the rest that Jesus was offering was to those who were heavy burdened by not only sin, but by condemnation from self and others (most likely Pharisee's). Jesus is extending an invitation to rest in Him by trusting in His sacrifice. This is why he says we must be like infants and children; what is wisdom to man is foolishness to God. You are forgiven not because of anything you've done, but because of what He didG.

It's an unconditional, reckless love that we cannot gain or lose. Thus, there's no need for a filter. 

This takes time and practice, but with practice, it gets easier.

So much love, 

Rickari 

Recommended Songs:

We Will Worship - Praise Like Oil

We Will Worship - Mvini (Rest in You)