Many times, I am tempted to reduce myself to my weakest area, to define myself by my failures. In the Bible, we see that there are nameless people who are identified only by their lack, their sin: the man born blind, the woman caught in the act of adultery, the foolish rich young ruler, the prostitute carrying the alabaster jar. All of these nameless people represent our own lives today. It is easy to allow what is broken, what is wounded within us, to define who we are, and so by doing to remain stuck in that brokenness.
In order to enter the destiny and plan that God has for us, we must by all means assume a new role. A role not defined by our brokenness, our woundedness, our sin, our illness. Obviously, we acknowledge we are broken, wounded, that we were in sin, but we can't stop there. In order, to move past that label, past those established parameters that have defined and limited us, that have served as boundaries and as prisons for who we could become, we have to submit ourselves to the touch of Jesus.
Submit, I use that word carefully, because many times Jesus has to ask us: "do you wanna get well?" Some of us, me included, can be so satisfied in our brokenness. We like the mat where we are lying and we don't want anyone to tell us to get off of it. That mat, that security blanket, that set of crutches, that support our emotional lameness; we don't want to get rid of it. It's comfortable, it's, as my mother would call it, our pet demon, or as in the words of Golem "our precious." And we don't want anyone touching our Precious.
Standing upon your own 2 feet, whether than having someone carry you, assuming responsibility for your own physical health, whether than accepting hand-outs is all rather frightening when you get down to it. So is it any wonder than many people determine that it's safer, and just a whole lot more comfortable, to remain broken?
But if we're more to be than the nameless individuals that pass through the pages of the Bible, we have to press forward into Jesus. We have to touch the hem of his garment, so that His healing can flow from us to him. So that we can put down our soiled garments, lay aside our soiled mat, leave the crutches behind us and walk into new life.
Standing Upright,
MJ
Standing upon your own 2 feet, whether than having someone carry you, assuming responsibility for your own physical health, whether than accepting hand-outs is all rather frightening when you get down to it. So is it any wonder than many people determine that it's safer, and just a whole lot more comfortable, to remain broken?
But if we're more to be than the nameless individuals that pass through the pages of the Bible, we have to press forward into Jesus. We have to touch the hem of his garment, so that His healing can flow from us to him. So that we can put down our soiled garments, lay aside our soiled mat, leave the crutches behind us and walk into new life.
Standing Upright,
MJ
