To Be Honest About It...

I got fired from my first career job. My wife is not the first woman I was engaged to. I once had a car repossessed….The list is longer than this, but geesh that’s enough of my personal business 🤣.

Point is - I have my share of things I could be ashamed of. Obviously I’m not. But it hasn’t always been that way. I used to tell stories in a way that skirted the embarrassing parts. I used to tell about me in a way that kept me as the hero of the story {at least in my own mind}.

Used to be you could know me and never know about me, cause I have super good defense mechanisms and my avoidance skills are better than the average NFL running back.

Then one night in Bible Study, I was teaching Hebrews 2 in front of about 25 people and God exposed me to a truth that has set me free to a place where there isn’t anything in my life that I have to lie about, avoid talking about or deny.

I now can say: Yes that was me. I did do that. You're right I did screw that up that way…And because of the truth of Hebrews 2:11, I’ve found freedom to be honest about it.

Here is what hit me that night and has changed me since. Both the sanctification aka cleansing, Christ has to give and the sanctification/cleansing I receive, come from God. 

• Christ is God in human form. His mission is to cleanse or make holy those that are in relationship with Him.

• Therefore, my ability to receive and be clean through Christ, also comes from God.

Big Question: If Jesus isn’t ashamed to die for me on the cross and cleanse me of my sins, What then am I ashamed of?

My truth is, I’ve made some mistakes, fallen down a whole lot, said things I wasn’t supposed to, hurt a few people…I can admit it but I don’t have to live under the shame of “it” the rest of my life. Christ who sanctifies me isn’t ashamed of me and I wont live ashamed either.

SO now I can live in truth no longer in half truths behind mental barriers of trying to keep “it” all from public view. Look I don’t go around giving out my bank account # or just volunteering sordid details just because. At the same time there is a freedom in being able to say without shame: I was fired. I missed the shot that cost the team. I failed in a relationship ….I can be honest about my past without shame, which has helped me live clear eyed in the present.

I have things to work on, areas to address and be honest about and weights to come from under…But I can be honest about it.